Federal guidance lets Alaska districts pay for emergency motel rooms for homeless students

Alaska school districts can now use federal homeless-education funds to put a family in a hotel or motel room when no shelter bed or hotel voucher is available, under guidance the U.S. Department of Education issued Aug. 4.

The department said in a Dear Colleague letter that local educational agencies "may, in certain circumstances, use EHCY subgrants to pay for short-term, temporary emergency housing (such as a hotel or motel room) for families and youth experiencing homelessness." Whether the spending is permissible is "context dependent and determined on a case-by-case basis," the department said. Districts may use the funds only as a last resort, after they find that alternative funding sources and housing options such as shelter beds or hotel vouchers are not readily available "despite active collaboration and coordination with local housing providers, local government agencies, and non-profit organizations that support families and youth experiencing homelessness." Districts must document each case individually, and the housing must be essential to removing an immediate barrier to enrollment or attendance.

The updated non-regulatory guidance is the first since 2018. The letter does not define "short-term," leaving that determination to state education agencies working with districts. Alaska's McKinney-Vento spending handbook, dated April 2025, already said the funds "must be used only as a last resort when other sources are not available."

In practice, the flexibility falls to district homeless liaisons. They will have to make case-by-case determinations, document the alternatives they tried, and align their decisions with state guidance on what counts as short-term. For families who are doubled up, unhoused, or moving between temporary places, the change could mean avoiding missed school days when a district can cover a crisis stay. Housing providers, including the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and local agencies, may be asked to coordinate on shelter beds or hotel vouchers before school funds can be used.

The Alaska Department of Education & Early Development flagged the change to district homeless liaisons ahead of a McKinney-Vento 101 webinar scheduled for Sept. 8 and the Homeless Liaison Conference in Anchorage set for Sept. 22-23. Liaisons must register by Aug. 21 to apply for a travel grant.