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Last Updated: Mar 05, 2025, 12:08 PM

A deeper look into HEROES:

The Higher Education Housing and Opportunities Act requires that each Illinois institution of higher education provide a liaison to assist enrolled homeless students and students in care with assistance and resources. Additionally, the institution must grant access to on-campus housing during academic breaks to students experiencing homelessness and students in care.

An individual is considered homeless or housing insecure if they identify with any of the following:

  • lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence*
  • is at imminent risk of lacking a fixed, regular, adequate nighttime residence*
  • parent or legal guardian is unable to provide shelter and care
  • parent or legal guardian is unwilling to provide shelter and care

*"fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence" does not include on-campus housing at SIU during the semester. This addresses housing options when SIU is not in academic session or when the individual is not on campus.

An individual is considered to be a "student in care" if they were at any point (or are) under the care and legal custody of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). This includes:

  • youth for whom DCFS has court-ordered responsibility
  • youth who aged out of care at age 18 or older
  • youth formerly under care who have been adopted and were the subject of an adoption assistance agreement
  • youth formerly under care who have been placed in private guardianship and were the subject of a subsidized guardianship agreement

If you feel you may qualify and would like to be contacted about your options, request assistance or email heroes@siu.edu.

Definitions

  • "Homeless Student" Definition

    "Student experiencing homelessness" or "homeless student" means an individual enrolled in an institution who lacks or is at imminent risk of lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence or whose parent or legal guardian is unable or unwilling to provide shelter and care and includes a homeless individual as defined under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. For the purposes of this definition, the term "fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence" does not include residence in an institution of higher education's on-campus housing. 
    (Source: P.A. 102-83, eff. 8-1-22.)

    Click here to view the full Higher Education Housing and Opportunities Act.

  • "Student in Care" Definition

    "Student in care" means any person, regardless of age, who is or was under the care and legal custody of the Department of Children and Family Services, including youth for whom the Department has court-ordered legal responsibility, youth who aged out of care at age 18 or older, or youth formerly under care who have been adopted and were the subject of an adoption assistance agreement or who have been placed in private guardianship and were the subject of a subsidized guardianship agreement.
    (Source: P.A. 102-83, eff. 8-1-22.)

    Click here to view the full Higher Education Housing and Opportunities Act.

  • McKinney-Vento "Homeless" Definition

    Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (per Title IX, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act) defines "homeless" as follows:

    The term "homeless children and youths"--

    1. means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of section 103(a)(1)); and
    2. includes--
      1. children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;* 
      2. children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C)); 
      3. children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and 
      4. migratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).

    Click here to view the full text of the MicKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act.