Extended-stay hotels, a growing option for poor families, can lead to health problems for kids
October 8, 2024 / 5:00 AM EDT / KFF Health News
Stone Mountain, Georgia — As principal of Dunaire Elementary School, Sean Deas has seen firsthand the struggles faced by children living in extended-stay hotels. About 10% of students at his school, just east of Atlanta, live in one.
The children, Deas said, often have been exposed to violence on hotel properties, exhibit aggression or anxiety from living in a crowded single room, and face food insecurity because some hotel rooms don't have kitchens.
"Social trauma is the biggest challenge" when students first arrive, Deas said. "We hear a lot about sleep problems." To meet students' needs, Deas developed a schoolwide program featuring counselors, a food pantry and special protocols for handling those who may fall asleep in class.
"Beyond the teaching, there's a social part," he said. "We have to find ways to support the families as well."
Extended-stay hotels are often a last resort for low-income families trying to find housing. Nationally, more than 100,000 students lived in extended-stay hotels in 2022, according to the Department of Education, though officials say that is likely an undercount. Children living in hotels are considered homeless under federal law, and in some Atlanta-area counties about 40% of homeless students live in this kind of housing, according to local officials.
And with rising rents and evictions, and decreased access to federal public housing, the use of extended-stay hotels as a long-term option is becoming more frequent. Like other forms of homelessness, hotel living can lead to — or exacerbate — physical and mental health problems for children, say advocates for families and researchers who study homelessness.
In the Atlanta area, inspections of extended-stay hotels have revealed ventilation issues, insect infestations, mold, and other health threats. Children living there also can experience or witness crime and gun violence. The increasing use of extended-stay hotels is a warning sign, observers said, a reflection of the lack of sufficient affordable housing policy in the U.S.
And the crisis is having "lifelong consequences," said Sarah Saadian of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. "The only way that we can really address that shortage is if there are significant federal resources at scale. Build more housing and bridge the gap between rents and wages."
Often, evictions force families into hotels — and can keep them trapped there. Many landlords refuse to rent to people with evictions in their credit history, even if the tenant isn't responsible for the displacement, said Joy Monroe, founder and CEO of the Single Parent Alliance & Resource Center, or SPARC, a nonprofit group in metro Atlanta that has helped hundreds of families move from hotels to apartments or rental homes.
Black women and other women of color, often with kids, are evicted at much higher rates and are more likely to find themselves living in extended-stay hotels, advocates say.
Some residents are also families fleeing domestic violence, they say.
Hotels often don't require security deposits, application fees or background checks, thus providing immediate relief for families seeking shelter. While there are higher-end options, the average rate for an economy-class extended-stay room was $56.68 a night during the first three months of 2024, according to the Highland Group, a research firm that focuses on the hotel sector — which works out to more than $1,700 a month.
And while the rooms offer respite from other forms of homelessness — like sleeping in a car or in a tent — a hotel "is no place to raise children," said Michael Bryant, CEO of New Life Community Alliance, which helps families in South Dekalb, a part of metro Atlanta, move from hotels to homes.
Children living in hotels are often behind on vaccinations, and they may end up in the emergency room because of delays in care, said Gary Kirkilas, a pediatrician in Phoenix who helps children, teens and families who are presently homeless or at risk of homelessness. About 75% of children with unstable housing whom he sees have at least one developmental delay, and others experience significant emotional and behavioral issues.
Tanazia Scott, who has bounced between two extended-stay hotels for several months, said her three children "feel depressed and upset" over hotel life.
An eviction sent Kassandra Norman, 58, and her two daughters into a monthslong journey of staying in Atlanta-area hotels. For three months, they slept in a car outside a convenience store. "It's hard to do homework in a car and in the hotel," said 19-year-old Kazuri Taylor, Norman's younger daughter.
Some hotels prohibit kids from playing outside in their parking lots, leading to additional stress, advocates say. That was the reason Yvonne Thomas, 45, and her family were evicted from an extended-stay hotel in DeKalb County, she said: "They put us out for nothing."