According to the McKinney-Vento Act  homeless students are defined as lacking a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence, including children who are:

1. Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing or
economic hardship;

2. Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds due to the lack of adequate accommodations;

3. Living in emergency or transitional shelters;

4. Are abandoned in hospitals;

5. Awaiting foster care placement;

6. Living in public or private places not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;

7. Living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, transportation stations or similar settings;

8. Migratory children living in conditions described in the previous
examples.

9. Unaccompanied youth who are not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.