NY1 – Last school year, 100 hundred shelter-based community coordinators began working in city homeless shelters — something advocates had been urging the city to do for years.

At the same time, the population of students living in shelters grew by 39% to 40,800. That number is expected to continue climbing. But come July, the coordinators may be gone.

“100 was not nearly enough, even three years ago. So now with the increase in the number of families and shelter, the need for shelter-based coordinators is even greater,” Jennifer Pringle, the director of the Learners in Temporary Housing project at Advocates for Children, said. “And to think that the city is going to pull those 100 positions makes absolutely no sense. This is a time right now when families need support the most.”