114,659 Homeless Students Living In New York: Largest Student Housing Crisis In History

Sad to admit, but US students in New York are now surviving one of the biggest housing crises in the past few years. The housing problem is persisting, and not only in NY. Previously, the Typical Student team told you about Housing Crisis at UC Santa Cruz One. According to New York Times statistic, one out of every 10 students lived in temporary housing during the last school year. Tune in for more shocking statistic on student housing shortage.

There Are More Homeless Students in NYC Than People in Albany

Source: New York Times

The NY Times reports that the number of homeless students in NYC exceeds the number of people in Albany. In the past 8 years, the number of school-age homeless kids has increased dramatically. The number of students living in temporary housing has risen from 69,244 in 2010 to 114,659 as of spring 2018! 

Homeless Students in Other US Cities

Compared to other US cities, NYC has one of the highest homeless students populations. For instance, in 2017, some 5% of Chicago public school students were homeless. Meanwhile, in LA around 3% of students were homeless in 2016. Back to NYC, there are 1,800 schools in total. Over the past 4 years, about ⅓ of students in 144 schools were homeless. 

Source: New York Times

It won’t come as a surprise that homelessness influences students’ academic success. Only 12% of students living in shelters passed math exam in the 2015-16 school year. And, only 15% passed English exam. At that, there’s roughly 1 social worker for every 1,660 homeless students! As you see, homelessness is a serious issue in NY schools.