Approximately 77 percent of students in the United States identified as homeless by the U.S. Department of Education are ineligible for homeless services from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) because of red tape, according to a new analysis by the Alliance for Excellent Education. Nationwide, approximately 715,238 homeless students are caught in this bureaucratic gap between the Department of Education and HUD, where the former classifies these young people as homeless, but the latter does not. As a result, too many homeless students do not have access to HUD services, including shelter, permanent housing, case management, substance abuse treatment, and more.