Nationwide, approximately 42% of people experiencing homelessness are employed. Having experienced a crisis in their life due to job loss, spousal abuse, medical bills, house fire, sudden death of a spouse or parent, or lack of affordable housing, families find themselves without sufficient income to maintain a home.

Common places for these families to stay are in vehicles, motels, or doubled up with families in one small space where children often sleep on the floor.

Because families experiencing homelessness do not have a stable living environment children do not perform well in school and do not have enough to eat. According to the U. S. census, 1 in 6 children lives in poverty and 42% of homeless children are under the age of six. Homeless children are four times as likely to have developmental delays and twice as likely to have learning disabilities. Compared to other children, homeless children are twice as likely to get sick, four times more prone to asthma attacks, and have six times as many speech problems.

• 802 children were identified in Irving ISD as being homeless at sometime during the 2010-2011 school year. (Irving ISD)
• More that 75% of the children in Irving ISD are in the free or reduced lunch program. (Texas Education Agency, Irving ISD *Updated data    from June showed Irving's level to be 80 percent)
• There are no shelters in Irving.
• Minimum Wage in Dallas County is $7.25/hr. Rent Affordable at Minimum Wage (30% of income) is $377/month (Out of Reach, 2010” by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.)
• 25.7 percent, or more than one out of four children, are living below the poverty line in Texas. (Center for Public Policy Priorities)
• One in four Texas children is food insecure.(Baylor University, Texas Hunger Initiative)
• In the U.S., 9.1 million extremely low income households are competing for 6.1 million available affordable housing units. (Out of Reach, 2010” by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.)