Almost 100,000 students in New York City's public schools were homeless during the 2015-16 school year, according to a reportreleased Wednesday by the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness (ICPH). This number represents a 20 percent increase from the previous school year, and a 49 percent increase in student homelessness since the 2010-11 school year. If this trend doesn't change, more than 1 out of 7 of New York City's public school students will experience homelessness by the time they enter the fifth grade. 

Beyond outlining these and other big-picture statistics, the report, released just a few weeks before the city's schools are back in session on September 7, focuses on the cohort of students that were enrolled in NYC public schools for all six years of elementary school, ending in the 2015-16 school year. Over those six years, researchers explored the effects of housing instability on a student's experience in the classroom and found that the average homeless student lived in at least two different housing situations during elementary school, often leading them to transfer schools in the middle of the year. As a result of longer commute times or instability at home, these students tended to miss more school than students with stable housing (missing almost half of a school year on average) and were at higher risk of suspension or being held back a grade.

To read the rest of the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness click here.

To read more of Maha Ahmed's article, please click here.