A staggering 154,000 students within New York City’s public school system were officially recognized as homeless during the 2024-25 academic year. This alarming number, highlighted by a report from Advocates for Children of New York (AFC), serves as a stark indicator of the city’s worsening housing crisis and its profound effect on its most impressionable young residents. With over 900,000 children attending city schools, nearly one in seven students are grappling with homelessness.
The Alarming Scope of the Crisis
The sheer scale of this issue is truly staggering. If all New York City children without stable housing formed their own school district, it would be among the top 20 largest in the entire United States, outranking major urban centers like Baltimore, Denver, Philadelphia, and San Diego. The vast majority of these students find themselves either living in temporary shelters or “doubled up” in overcrowded apartments with other families—a classification that legally defines them as homeless.
This problem has been a persistent one, with numbers exceeding 100,000 for the past decade, and steadily increasing across various mayoral terms. For instance, approximately 87,000 students were identified as homeless when Bill de Blasio assumed office in 2014. Experts largely point to the city’s ongoing lack of affordable housing as the primary driver behind this rise, rather than the influx of migrant children, even though New York has welcomed over 45,000 migrant students since 2022.
Unequal Burden: Racial and Economic Divides
A deeper look into the statistics reveals profound racial and economic inequalities. An overwhelming 87% of students experiencing temporary housing are Black or Latino, significantly higher than their 62% representation in the total student body. More than half of these homeless students are “doubled up,” sharing living spaces with other families, while five percent are forced to live in hotels, motels, or have no shelter at all.
Last year alone, nearly 65,000 children lived in shelters, and their academic performance paints a grim picture: roughly 80% of students in shelters from third to eighth grade failed to achieve proficiency in state reading and math assessments. Furthermore, almost 40% of homeless adolescents did not graduate high school on schedule, and a distressing one in eight dropped out completely.
Geographic Gaps: Where Homelessness Hits Hardest
This crisis is not evenly spread across the five boroughs. Predominantly lower-income neighborhoods, including East Harlem in Upper Manhattan, Brownsville and Bushwick in Brooklyn, and High Bridge and Grand Concourse in the Bronx, report over 20% of their students experiencing homelessness. Conversely, Staten Island sees a much lower impact, with fewer than seven percent of its students affected. While some schools have managed to avoid the issue entirely, a concerning 30 schools have more than half of their student population classified as homeless.
The Attendance Barrier: Chronic Absenteeism
One of the most significant consequences of homelessness is its direct impact on school attendance. Students frequently endure lengthy commutes across different boroughs to get to school, and unpredictable transportation delays only worsen this challenge. A shocking 52% of all homeless students, and an even higher two-thirds of those living in shelters, were chronically absent last year, meaning they missed at least ten percent of the school year. Maria Odom, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York, emphasized in their report, “Education is key to breaking the cycle of homelessness, but our city is currently failing students in shelter.”
Potential Solutions: Mayoral Candidate Proposals
As the upcoming mayoral election draws near, candidates are offering various approaches to tackle this crisis. Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani advocates for expanding programs that would link families in shelters with city workers for regular support and check-ins. Meanwhile, third-party candidate Andrew M. Cuomo suggests increasing the number of “community schools” that offer comprehensive wraparound services, such as vital mental health support.
A Call for Systemic Change
The stark data from New York City reveal a deep-seated and escalating problem. For students, the absence of stable housing transcends a mere social concern; it directly undermines their ability to learn, maintain consistent attendance, and achieve positive long-term life outcomes. For policymakers, these numbers underscore an urgent necessity for integrated action across housing, education, and social services. Without a unified, comprehensive effort, New York City faces the grave risk of abandoning tens of thousands of its children, thereby entrenching cycles of poverty and educational inequality for generations to come.