10.28.2019 | Chalkbeat NY | One in 10 New York City students lacked stable housing last school year, according to new data released Monday. There were 114,085 homeless students at district and charter schools—numbers that speak to the scope of the crisis, even as they were down slightly over the previous school year, according to an Advocates For Children report. 

“This problem is immense,” said Kim Sweet, executive director of Advocates For Children, in a statement. “The number of New York City students who experienced homelessness last year — 85% of whom are black or Hispanic — could fill the Barclays Center six times.” 

The advocacy group compiled state education department data from the 2018-19 school year and found the number of students reported as homeless was down by 574 children year over year. It’s unclear what caused the minimal drop. The number of homeless students — defined as children in shelters or doubling up with family, friends, or others — has steadily increased since the 2014-2015 school year. Numbers released last year, which looked at the 2017-2018 school year, set a record-high for the number homeless city students and represented an increase of more than 3,000 homeless students from the previous year.  Read article