Official numbers from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) found well over half a million — 653,104, to be exact — individuals unhoused and seeking shelter as of January 2023.
How “homeless” is defined is a serious factor here because the latest numbers show that there are nearly a quarter of that number (146k), when counting only homeless public school students in New York City. Stats show about twice that total number (1.28 million) of homeless students around the country.
The current rising numbers, combined with a brief dip in the 2021-2022 school year, suggest that some eviction restrictions imposed during the pandemic may have had a positive impact on students (while other aspects did significant harm).
Homeless Student Numbers Dropped After The Pandemic
An annual national report on the numbers of homeless students is part of an ongoing effort through the 1987 McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act to improve educational access for students trying to juggle schoolwork with uncertainty about where they’ll sleep on a given night.
When the stats for the 2019-2020 school year were compared to those for the 2021-2022 year, though, a surprising development surfaced. The number of homeless students had decreased by 6% in two years. Unfortunately, it still represented a 10% increase from the previous year (2020-2021), highlighting the disparity during the pandemic.
The report acknowledges COVID-19 as a contributing factor. The pandemic resulted in new regulations limiting the ability to evict renters, but it also caused long-term disabilities, lost employment, and other hardships for families. On the other hand, it also limited access to students and may have resulted in some homeless students being overlooked in counting.
These changes are both stark compared to the school years since 2004, when there has been an average of a 4% increase annually.
The Newest Numbers From New York City
While homelessness will vary by location and tends to be higher in cities than in rural areas (where there are fewer shelters and transportation may pose more difficulties), the latest stats out of New York City still represent record numbers and an alarming increase. The New York Times reported:
“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.”
While nationwide statistics are not yet available for the 2023-2024 school year, rising housing costs and other family financial struggles could be a hint that the rest of the country is suffering similarly.
Digging Into Definitions — Who Is “Homeless,” Anyway?
As previously noted, HUD counts around 600k homeless individuals in the United States, while the tally of homeless students hovers close to 1.3 million.
That’s because the definitions of “homeless” are not the same across all measures, largely because different agencies and departments have different goals. McKinney-Vento data on homeless public school students counts children living in non-permanent circumstances, such as on a relative’s couch or in a hotel room. HUD uses a more stringent measure. USA Facts explains:
“This definition is broader than other governmental definitions of homelessness. For example, the Department of Housing and Urban Development only counts youth living with relatives as homeless if there is documentation that they will lose housing within 14 days. The act’s more expansive definition allows more students to access services, such as transportation to and from school or basic school supplies.”
How Homelessness Affects Student Life
Students who meet the criteria for “homeless” may be living in shelters or in unsecure or long-term housing. For instance, a student and his family may be “doubled up” in the same house as his cousins and their families after losing their own homes, or the family may be living in a hotel room.
Or, the student may not know where he’s sleeping on a given night until the end of that day, shuffling around between different situations.
None of this is very healthy for the sense of security and stability that a child needs to be able to do his best, and it can create specific difficulties, such as belongings (including school supplies or work) being lost, left behind, or damaged.
It also may add to difficulties in getting to school, much less on time. More than half of students who are homeless are chronically absent. Schoolhouse Connection reports:
“The high chronic absence rate among students experiencing homelessness is directly linked to the barriers to education caused by homelessness, which include lack of documentation/being unable to meet enrollment requirements; high mobility resulting in lack of continuity and absenteeism; lack of transportation; lack of supplies; poor health, fatigue, and hunger; and emotional crisis/mental health issues.”
Disparate Access, Disparate Outcomes
Notably, the statistics show that, overall, homelessness affects some demographics more than others.
Students with disabilities, students for whom English is a second language, and students in demographics including Black/African American students, Native American students, and Pacific Islanders are disproportionately represented in homelessness. Being homeless (and all the extra stressors and struggles, in school and out, that come with it) can have significant effects on school outcomes, which in turn affects the ability of these individuals to have financial and employment success as adults.
This perpetuates a generational cycle. The McKinney-Vento Act’s purpose is to provide grants to schools with larger numbers of homeless students to provide for some basic needs and close that gap as much as possible, but it is finite and may be insufficient, especially for record numbers of homeless children.
