Record Number of NYC Students Experience Homelessness
Record Number of NYC Students Experience Homelessness, Sparking Urgent Calls for Action
More than 154,000 New York City public school students experienced homelessness at some point during the last academic year—a staggering figure that marks a record high and underscores a crisis that has been steadily worsening for over a decade. According to a new report from Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), the number reflects a troubling trend: for the past ten years, more than 100,000 students annually have faced housing instability.
“This isn’t just a statistic—it’s a generation of children whose education is being upended by circumstances beyond their control,” said Jennifer Pringle, Director of AFC’s Learners in Temporary Housing Project. “There are now more homeless students in New York City than there are students in the entire Dallas public school system.”
With the city’s public school enrollment exceeding 900,000, that means nearly 1 in 7 students experienced homelessness during the 2022–2023 school year. Pringle emphasized how the chaos of unstable housing ripples through every aspect of a child’s life—especially their education. “This year alone, we’ve worked with families whose children already missed an entire month of school because of the lack of coordination between the shelter and school systems,” she said.
The surge in student homelessness is fueled by a confluence of factors: skyrocketing rents, a rise in domestic violence, and the arrival of tens of thousands of migrant families seeking better life and safety from violence abroad. These pressures have intensified the city’s affordability crisis—a central issue in this year’s mayoral race.
The Department of Education says it offers robust support for students in temporary housing, including dedicated staff to assist with enrollment, transportation, immunizations, and counseling. Some schools have even installed washing machines, opened food pantries, and created donation centers to meet families’ basic needs.
“We share Advocates for Children’s commitment to supporting our students, and will always provide every student—including those in temporary housing—with the resources they need to succeed in school, while working with our partners to remove any barriers to learning,” said Chyann Tull, a spokesperson for the city’s education department.
Yet despite these efforts, many families continue to struggle. Celina Moore knows this reality all too well. A year ago, she moved with her three children from the Bronx—where they had been staying with her mother—to a shelter in Brooklyn due to safety concerns. She tried to keep her 7-year-old autistic, nonverbal son enrolled in his Bronx school, but the long daily bus ride from Brooklyn began to take a toll. His behavior deteriorated, and teachers started calling with concerns about aggression.
“It broke my heart,” Moore said. “I don’t want my baby suffering.”
She eventually transferred him to a Brooklyn school closer to their shelter—but he missed the first week of classes while the system sorted out a new bus route.
Federal law guarantees homeless students the right to remain in their original school, even if they move to a different shelter, and entitles them to transportation. But in practice, the system often falls short. Pringle noted that 40% of homeless students are placed in shelters in a different borough from their school. It can take weeks to assign a new bus route, and when buses do run, they’re frequently late—or don’t show up at all.
“In the meantime, parents are forced to shuttle their kids back and forth, losing precious hours they could be spending looking for permanent housing or working,” Pringle said. “No parent should have to choose between their child’s educational stability and securing a stable home.”
The consequences are stark: more than half of students in temporary housing are chronically absent. Academically, they lag far behind their housed peers. Just 22% of students living in shelters scored proficient on state reading and math exams—less than half the rate of students with stable housing.
AFC’s report urges a more coordinated, citywide response and increased state funding to address the educational barriers facing homeless students. “This is an interagency issue,” Pringle stressed. “We believe the next mayor must launch a bold, interagency initiative to ensure that homelessness doesn’t derail a child’s future.”
