Overview
- Roughly one in seven New York City public school students experienced homelessness in 2024–25, up about 12,000 from the prior year and marking the 10th straight year above 100,000.
- The report attributes about 42% of affected students to time in shelters, 53% to living doubled up with other families, and roughly 5% to unsheltered situations or hotels, with the highest rates in the Bronx and the lowest in Staten Island.
- Educational impacts remain severe, including chronic absenteeism for more than half of students in temporary housing and two-thirds in shelters, proficiency rates around 22% for students in shelters on state exams, and a four-year graduation rate of 62% with roughly one in eight dropping out.
- The Education Department cites more than 350 dedicated staff, expanded enrollment and transportation help, counseling and immunization support, and a 2023 funding weight for students in temporary housing, while city data show 81% of families in shelters lived in the youngest child’s school borough last fiscal year.
- Advocates urge the next mayor and state lawmakers to place families closer to school, overhaul bus contracts, and adjust state aid for districts with higher shares of homeless students, as critics argue the headline count is inflated by including doubled-up families and note fewer than 31,000 children currently live in shelters.