City and State | If you took every student in New York City who experienced homelessness at some point last school year and combined them into a single school district, it would still be one of the 20 largest in the entire country. Bigger than school districts in Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle and many others.

That’s according to a new report from Advocates for Children of New York published Monday, which found nearly 1 in 7 public school students didn’t have a permanent place to call home during the 2024-2025 academic year. Of the more than 154,000 impacted children, 42% spent time living in city shelters, 53% were “doubled up” or temporarily sharing space with other families, and 5% were unsheltered or living in cars or hotels.

“This year alone, we’ve worked with families whose children already missed an entire month of school because of the lack of coordination between the shelter and school systems,” said Jennifer Pringle, director of AFC’s Learners in Temporary Housing Project. “We look forward to partnering with the next mayor to advance this critical work.”