Almost half of New York City’s homeless students were chronically absent from school last year, according to an analysis published Monday by the group Advocates for Children of New York.
The data shows roughly 154,000 students in the city's public schools during the 2024-2025 academic year were homeless, meaning they lived in shelters or "doubled up" with other families, marking a record high in a number that's been climbing for a decade amid the city’s affordability crisis.
The report found 49% of students whose families lived in temporary housing with other family members or friends missed at least one out of every 10 of their school days last year. That rate was even higher for students living in shelters, at 63%.
Attendance is one of many challenges facing New York City's staggeringly large homeless student population, which eclipses the entire school-age population of many other major American cities.
Homeless students also lag far behind their peers academically, the new report found, with less than 33% of scoring proficient in reading and 35% in math. That compares to roughly 60%, in each subject, among their classmates in steady housing.
“Education is the best tool we have to prevent future homelessness, and only bold leadership from City Hall can bring the urgency and coordination needed to ensure students who are homeless can get to school every day and access the educational support they need to thrive,” said Jennifer Pringle, a director at Advocates for Children.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he plans to expand an initiative that pairs school staff with homeless students and their families for weekly check-ins.
Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said in response to the report that the administration also plans to strengthen interagency efforts to support homeless students.
"Every child deserves access to a rigorous, high-quality education," Samuels said in a statement. "Far too often, our students in temporary housing are left behind without the resources and supports they need to succeed – under this administration, we will work to tackle those longstanding issues head on."
But advocates say more needs to be done to ensure that families remain close to their schools when they have to move between shelters or temporary housing.
The analysis found one in five students living in shelters transferred schools at least once during the academic year, disrupting their education and social lives. Many homeless families struggle with hourslong commutes to school and unreliable yellow buses that make it difficult to attend school consistently.
Advocates for Children is also calling for state lawmakers to tweak New York’s education funding formula to allocate more money for children who are homeless or in foster care. The state funding formula currently does not provide additional funding for those students, but the Senate and Assembly’s budgets have proposed an increase.
This story has been updated with additional information.
