NYC Student Homelessness Declines but Remains Stubbornly High, Report Finds

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One in eight New York City public school students experienced homelessness last school year, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonprofit Advocates for Children.

That meant more than 138,000 children lived in temporary housing, whether in shelters or “doubled up” with family or friends. The total dropped 10% from the previous school year — largely driven by a decline in the number of families living in shelters. Still, the figure remained staggeringly high, roughly equivalent to the population of Albany, and marked the 11th straight year the number topped 100,000, the report said.

Of those students, 37% lived in shelters, while 58% shared housing with other families because of economic hardship, the report said.

Students who are homeless, particularly those living in shelters, tend to fare worse academically than their peers in permanent housing. In 2025, about 27% of students living in shelters in grades 3-8 were proficient in reading, less than half the rate of students in permanent housing, according to state test results. About 59% graduated on time, compared with the citywide rate of 81%, and 14% dropped out of school, about triple the dropout rate of their peers.

A major factor contributing to these poor outcomes is that simply getting to school can be a challenge.

Nearly half of students in temporary housing and 63% of those living in shelters were chronically absent, meaning they missed at least 10% of the 2024-25 school year. That compares to about a third of students citywide. And 1 in 5 students in shelters transferred schools at least once during the year, more than four times the rate for their peers.

Jennifer Pringle, director of Advocates for Children’s Learners in Temporary Housing Project, said the city must do more to address these challenges, warning that people without a high school diploma are 4.5 times more likely to experience homelessness as young adults.

“Unfortunately, for too many families, being in shelter derails their education,” Pringle said. “I know this is the long game, but if we really want to address family homelessness, we have to focus on education now.”

Far-Flung Shelter Placements Keep Children Out of School, Advocates Say

While the Department of Homeless Services tries to place families in the borough where the youngest child attends school, that’s not always the case. About 37% of families in shelters are placed in a different borough from where their children attend school, Pringle said.

Because of that, many children in shelters rely on school buses, but Pringle said it typically takes more than a month to get assigned to a route. Even then, families can face delays and buses that fail to show up.

“The city has a lot of control over these systems,” Pringle said. “New York City Public Schools does not control where the Department of Homeless Services places families in shelters. But the Department of Homeless Services’ practices about shelter placements makes a tremendous difference to whether or not a child can be stably educated.”

Once a family is placed in a shelter, there is no mechanism to revisit that placement, Pringle said. She suggested that shelter case managers check in with families a week after they arrive to see whether they want to transfer closer to their children’s school.

Families remain in shelters for an average of 14 months, she added. For parents spending several hours a day getting their children to and from school, that leaves less time to work or look for permanent housing.

“It may be unrealistic to expect that the city can place all families close to kids’ schools. But let’s at least design a process that you know takes this into consideration and makes it a greater priority,” she said.

The city has been working to improve attendance strategies and has expanded Every Child and Family is Known, a program that pairs homeless students and their families with designated school staffers who build relationships and connect them with support and resources.

Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said the Education Department has worked with other city agencies in recent years to improve policies for families, including eliminating a requirement that children attend all housing meetings and expanding community schools offering wraparound services such as eye care and housing support in districts with high concentrations of shelters.

“Supporting these students is both a priority and shared responsibility,” Samuels said in a statement. “As this report shows, this work is far from over, and we’ll continue to work in partnership to bolster resources, address ongoing challenges and ensure that our most vulnerable students have the support they need to receive a rigorous, high-quality education.”

Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Erin Dalton also pointed to declines in chronic absenteeism among students living in shelters and said the agency was expanding outreach to children who frequently miss school and working to help families transition to more stable housing.

Bronx Leads NYC in Student Homelessness Rates

The Bronx continued to have the highest rate of student homelessness, with nearly 1 in 6 students experiencing homelessness in the 2025-26 school year.

Manhattan had the next-highest rate, at 1 in 7 students, but saw the biggest year-over-year drop, at 18%, largely because fewer students enrolled in the borough’s schools were living in shelters. Staten Island had the lowest rate, with about 1 in 20 students experiencing homelessness.

At the school district level, the highest rates were in the South Bronx’s District 9, Brownsville’s District 23 and Bushwick’s District 32. More than 1 in 5 students in those districts experienced homelessness last year.

At the other end of the spectrum, fewer than 5% of students in District 26, which spans Queens neighborhoods including Bayside, Fresh Meadows and Jamaica Estates, experienced homelessness.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

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