A record 154,000 children in New York City public schools — nearly one in seven — were homeless during the past school year, according to data released Monday, as the city faces a deepening affordability crisis.
Advocates for Children of New York, the report’s author, put this shocking new data into context this way: If homeless students had their own school district, it would be one of the 20 largest education systems in the country.
“There are now more homeless students in New York City than in the entire Dallas public school system,” said Jennifer Pringle, project director focused on temporarily housed students at Advocates for Children.
The consequences for a child’s education are profound. “Just this year, we have worked with families whose children had already missed an entire month of school due to lack of coordination between the shelter and the school system,” Pringle said.
Among homeless students, 42 percent spent a few nights or the entire school year in homeless shelters, according to the report. More than half stayed temporarily with friends or extended family, often sleeping in cramped spaces or on couches and the floor. Around 7,000 children did not have a roof over their heads or a decent place to sleep.
Shutterstock
(Shutterstock)
In some neighborhoods, including East Harlem and the Bronx’s Concourse, the rate of student homelessness has reached one in five children. And in the grip of a migration crisis that has since subsided, Manhattan schools had the highest proportion of students housed in shelters.
Latoya Iheanacho shuttled three of her children between shelters in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, all within a year. Her husband left the family when daily tasks became “too much,” she said. “I had no choice but to leave.”
Each new shelter location presented a new challenge for Iheanacho and her children’s commute to Public School 219 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The school bus dropped the children off late for class, and Iheanacho received a warning that she could be reported to Child Protective Services for neglect. She quit her job in mental health care and took them to school herself, waking up at 4 a.m. and, at one of the shelters, taking two subways and a bus.
It never seemed enough.
“They’re tired, they’re going to sleep in class,” Iheanacho said. “At the shelter, it was: ‘I’m going to sleep. I don’t even care about homework.’ »
More than two in three students in homeless shelters were chronically absent during the 2023-2024 school year, a slight increase from the previous year, according to new data. Their state test scores were about half those of their housed classmates.
And while a diploma can make a huge difference in whether a child becomes homeless again as an adult, one in eight students in shelters has dropped out of high school, three times the rate of their peers.
“Education is key to breaking the cycle of homelessness,” said Chyann Tull, a spokeswoman for the city’s public schools. “And we will continue to strengthen our cross-agency and data-informed, trauma-informed strategies to help students and their families thrive.” »
Under Mayor Adams’ leadership, the city changed its education funding formula to send additional dollars to schools with high populations of homeless students. The city also provides registration and vaccination assistance, shelter-in-place school staff and attendance programs focused on resources for families, such as food and clothing.
Defenders want the city’s next mayor to go even further.
“Ensuring that homeless students receive the supports they need to succeed in school must be a top priority,” said Maria Odom, executive director of Advocates for Children.
Zohran Mamdani, front-runner and Democratic candidate in the mayor’s race, has proposed expanding a program that fosters relationships between homeless students and caring adults. Andrew Cuomo, the former governor polling behind Mamdani, said he would prioritize schools with students housed in temporary housing for partnerships with community organizations.
Cayla Bamberger / New York Daily News
Zohran Mamdani speaks at a public school in Queens on September 4. (Cayla Bamberger/New York Daily News)
Advocates for Children is urging city agencies to work together to place children in shelters closer to school, combat high truancy rates and improve school transportation service. The organization also called on state lawmakers to change the school aid formula, which, despite recent adjustments, still does not provide additional funding to support temporarily housed students. A bill to make this revision is under consideration in Albany.
Iheanacho received a housing voucher and moved into a small apartment in Jamaica, Queens. Her younger children have enrolled in programs closer to home, while her older daughter travels an hour and a half to graduate with her friends. In eighth grade, she reads like second grade, but she is passionate about math and drawing classes.
The family fears returning to the shelter system. Recently, there was a fire in the apartment above theirs and water sprinklers soaked their home and belongings. On Wednesday, Iheanacho informed his security post of his intention to resign due to his low salary and problems with his benefits.
“I wash the clothes, the money is gone. I can’t buy them a shirt or a uniform because I don’t have money,” Iheanacho said. “I can’t live on this.”
