A record 154,000 public school students in New York City were homeless during the last school year, according to data released Monday, grim evidence that the city’s worsening housing crisis is wreaking havoc on its youngest and most vulnerable residents.
Almost all these children sleep in shelters or in overcrowded apartments shared by other families, where they are considered homeless under federal education law.
The population of homeless students in the nation’s largest school system has exceeded 100,000 for 10 consecutive years and has ballooned under recent mayoral administrations: About 87,000 students were identified as homeless when Bill de Blasio began his first term in 2014.
On Monday, Maria Odom, the executive director of Advocates for Children of New York, a nonprofit that collects the homeless student data, said the next mayor “must lead a citywide, cross-agency effort” to help these children.
“Education is key to breaking the cycle of homelessness,” Ms. Odom said. “But our city is currently failing students in shelter.”
Here are four measurements that illuminate the problem:
A population larger than most U.S. school; districts.
The scale of New York City’s student homelessness crisis can be tough to grasp.
If children who lack permanent housing made up their own school district, it would be among the nation’s 20 largest public school systems — bigger than those in major cities such as Baltimore, Denver, Philadelphia or San Diego.
In New York, more than half of all children who are considered homeless under federal law are “doubled up,” sharing the housing of others — sometimes crammed into tiny apartments with three or four families — often because of economic hardship. About 5 percent were living in hotels or motels or lacked any shelter.
About 87 percent of students in temporary housing are Black or Latino; Black and Latino students make up about 62 percent of the overall school system.
New York City has enrolled more than 45,000 migrant children since 2022, and many spent time in shelters. But the homeless student population had been on the upswing long before their arrival, and experts believe the shortage of affordable housing remains the biggest factor responsible for the increase.
Nearly 65,000 children live in shelters.
In New York, roughly 42 percent of homeless students spent time in the shelter system last year. Their educational outcomes are especially bleak.
Nearly 80 percent of third through eighth graders living in shelters were not proficient in reading and math on the most recent state tests. Almost 40 percent of adolescents living in shelters failed to graduate high school on time. One in eight dropped out.
Mayoral candidates have offered plans to help these students.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, wants to significantly expand a program that connects families in shelters with city workers for frequent check-ins. And Andrew M. Cuomo, running as a third-party candidate, wants to create more “community schools,” which offer wraparound services including mental health care.
In some neighborhoods, more than one in five students was homeless.
The toll of the homelessness crisis has never been spread equally across New York’s sprawling school system.
More than 20 percent of students experienced homelessness last school year in some lower-income neighborhoods, including East Harlem in Upper Manhattan; Brownsville and Bushwick in Brooklyn; and High Bridge and Grand Concourse in the southwest corner of the Bronx.
On Staten Island, fewer than 7 percent of students were homeless.
Some of the city’s more than 1,500 public schools did not educate a single student who lives in temporary housing. But at roughly 30 schools, more than half of students were homeless.
Half of homeless students are chronically absent.
Homeless children travel long distances — sometimes across boroughs — to attend classes, and getting to school before first period can be an ordeal. Even children who ride the city’s yellow bus system, which has long been plagued with delays, can reach school hours late.
The travel contributes to extraordinarily high rates of absences for students who lack permanent housing. Roughly 52 percent of all homeless children — and two-thirds of those in shelters — were chronically absent, missing at least 10 percent of the last school year.
Absenteeism is among the most urgent issues in the school system. Children cannot learn if they are not in class, but New York has not launched a robust citywide effort to stem the problem.
Troy Closson is a Times education reporter focusing on K-12 schools.
The post 154,000 New York City Students Were Homeless Last Year, a Record Number appeared first on New York Times.
