Community forum looks for solutions as 3,500 Polk County students face homelessness

LAKELAND, Fla. - Polk County school leaders reported more than 3,500 students are classified as homeless this year. 

Those numbers are an increase of 400 over the last year. This means students are living in shelters, budget motels, dangerously comprised dwellings or sofa-surfing with friends and family. 

School leaders point to a lack of affordable housing and inflation in the area as contributing factors to that increase. They said families are dealing with rental increases up to $700.

"If we have a student who is waking up in the morning at a motel that they can't afford to stay at anymore, and they have no idea where they're going to stay that night, imagine bringing that to school with you," Ben Ruch, Polk County Public Schools homeless liaison said.

He shared those concerns on a panel at the "Humanity, Housing and Homelessness: A Solutions Summit" in Lakeland Thursday night. Several community and government leaders gathered to discuss solutions and misconceptions about homelessness.

"A lot of folks, they think homelessness, they think someone standing on a street corner, they're not thinking about all of these families," Ruch said. "So having events like this so that we can bring that awareness to the public about it, that that'll give us a starting point to start talking solutions." 

School leaders said there are programs in place to support these students and families, but they also need help from the community.