A new report shows that over 154,000 public school students in New York City lacked stable housing at some point during the 2024-2025 school year, a record high. This means that nearly one in every seven students in the city’s public school system was homeless.
The nonprofit Advocates for Children of New York put together the data using information from the state education department. It also shows that more than half of those students were living in “doubled-up” arrangements (which means temporarily staying with friends or family) while over 65,000 spent at least one night in a city shelter. This is 12,000 more than last year’s record.
Still, homelessness is not unusual for this city. “Every year for the past decade, more than 100,000 students in our public schools have been homeless,” said Jennifer Pringle, who is the project director at Advocates for Children.
This is the first time it has gone past 150,000. The rise is going up partly due to the increasing cost of housing and the number of families losing their housing. Advocates say the impact on education is large with homeless students facing greater risks of chronic absenteeism and lower academic performance.
“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,” Pringle said.
City officials point out that the size of the problem means more resources are needed. The report encourages better coordination among housing and education systems to make sure students experiencing homelessness can stay enrolled, attend regularly and access the help they need.
“Education is key to breaking the cycle of homelessness, but our city is currently failing students in shelter,” said Maria Odom, who is executive director of the nonprofit. “Ensuring students who are homeless receive the support they need to be successful in school must be a top priority for the next mayor, who must lead a citywide, cross-agency effort to break down bureaucratic silos, reverse these alarming trends, and ensure students experiencing homelessness can get to school every day and receive the educational support they need to succeed.”
The message from the report is clear: without urgent action, the gap in educational opportunity for these students may grow. AFC hopes the next mayor will work to resolve the issue for the future of our younger generations.
