Overview

• Advocates for Children of New York reports nearly one in seven public school students experienced homelessness in 2024–25, the first time the total topped 150,000 in a decade of elevated counts.
• Living situations included about 65,000 students spending time in shelters, roughly 82,000 doubled up with other households, and about 7,000 in motels or without stable housing.
• Students in shelters faced steep academic challenges, with about 67% chronically absent, state test scores about half those of housed peers, and roughly one in eight dropping out of high school.
• Placement practices strained attendance as advocates say about 40% of families were housed in shelters outside their child’s school borough, with many students waiting weeks for transportation.
• City officials cite more than 350 dedicated DOE staff for students in temporary housing and DHS efforts that increased to 81% the share of families living in the youngest child’s school borough, while advocates press for stronger cross-agency coordination and state funding reforms.