Homeless Students

This is actually November 1st post; got sidetracked.

Press-Telegram online article is about homeless students being helped by Bethune Transitional Center. I do not recall ever hearing about this program, which was founded in 1991. I am aware that Long Beach has homeless students. Some families live with relatives, overcrowded in small apartments. Others live out of vehicles. Some live out of shelters. Less live on the streets, but they are there.

The article says that 1,054 students were classified as homeless in 2009; 2,300 in 2010; "and more than double that number" in 2011.

The article is not clear. A photo shows a 46-year-old women with her son, "... in their one-bedroom apartment on October 10, 2011." Does that mean she and her son were put into the apartment by Bethune? It says she was homeless for eight years, fled an abusive boyfriend in Orange County getting help from Long Beach's domestic violence shelters. Does that mean she and her son lived in a domestic violence shelter for eight years? Or did Bethune help them into that apartment prior to when the photo was taken? 


The boy is sixteen now, meaning he was eight when his mother became homeless. Sad way for a child to grow up.