A group of Coos County citizens will discuss homelessness on Wednesday, armed with fresh statistics suggesting more Oregon children are without permanent homes.

 The Oregon Department of Education reported last week that 15,859 primary school students were homeless for at least part of thelast school year. That is a slight rise over the previous school year, when 15,517 students were found to be homeless. The rise is more drastic when compared with 2003-04, when the state recorded 8,143 homeless students.

The South Coast is not immune to the new trend, though officials say efforts to identify homeless students appear to have kept the number from increasing this past year.

Jon Mishra, principal at Sunset Middle School and supervisor of the Coos Bay School District’s Title I program, said 268 students in the district were homeless last year. He said the number of homeless students has remained stable over the past two years.

“The numbers have been about the same here because we’ve done a good job of identifying the families and getting them help,” he said.

Every grade level is affected, Mishra said. Kindergarten has the most, with 32.

The district reaches out to students by providing free school supplies and helping their families find housing assistance elsewhere. Part of the funding the district receives through the Title I program must be used to help homeless students, Mishra said.

The district has hired a homeless liaison, Patty Sanden, who works with individual school staffs to identify homeless students.

Once they’ve been found, homeless students can get school supplies and clothing from a districtwide clothing bank. Sanden also works with the homeless students’ families to get them housing assistance through outside organizations.

She is involved with the Coos County 10-year Plan to End Homelessness. The effort began in the spring of 2007, though funding to develop a plan only became available this summer.

Sanden is one of 13 members of a steering committee that will meet Wednesday to discuss strategies for helping homeless youth, homeless families and homeless people with mental illnesses. The meeting is not open to the public.

Committee member Bob More, director of housing and emergency services at Oregon Coast Community Action, said the state’s figures correlate with his group’s one-night homeless count. Conducted at the beginning of the year, the count found 72 homeless youth in 2007 and 85 earlier this year. He said he wasn’t sure if the figures amounted to a trend, though it does suggest there is a good reason for the 10-year plan.

“There is a likelihood this is a growing problem rather than a diminishing one,” he said.

More said he thinks part of the reason for the state’s increased homeless figures is a federal mandate requiring districts to have homeless youth plans.

If a student is living at a friend’s or relative’s house, that is considered a homeless student, though some districts may have overlooked such students in the past.

The state’s figures also include students who are living with parents in homeless shelters or hotels.

Coos Bay is the only school district in Coos County to address its homeless problem, because it is the only one with enough Title I funds, More said. He said a committee on youth homelessness said there might be a benefit to having all the area’s schools pooling their Title I resources so smaller districts could benefit from having a homeless liaison.

“That might be something the steering committee recommends,” he said.

(Staff Writer Alexander Rich can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 234; or by e-mailing to arich@theworldlink.com.)