Los New York Times | At least 146,000 public school students in New York City, about one in eight, did not have permanent housing at some point during the past school year, a record number and a 23 percent increase from the year before, according to Advocates for Children of New York. The group released the data, gathered by the New York State Education Department, on Monday.

Most families who end up in a shelter stay for about a year and a half, Jennifer Pringle, a director at Advocates for Children of New York, said.

The city’s Department of Homeless Services places roughly 40 percent of families in shelters in a borough other than the one where their children attend school, Ms. Pringle said.

She added that this was a primary cause of disruptions like absences: In the 2022-23 school years, over half of the city’s homeless students were chronically absent, missing at least one in 10 school days. One in every 32 homeless students was suspended from school, the group said.

“Oftentimes, parents are put in the position of having to choose between what they need to do to secure permanent housing and making sure that their kids’ educational needs are being met,” Ms. Pringle said. “The city makes it that much harder by creating these ridiculously long commutes for families back and forth to school.”

In a statement, a spokesman for the Department of Homeless Services said that the department increased the rate of families living in the same borough as the school of their youngest child to 80 percent last year.

“We recognize that education is not a privilege but a right for every child, regardless of their housing status, and we work diligently with N.Y.C. Public Schools and our shelter providers to minimize educational disruptions, whenever possible, for all families in our care,” the statement read.