One Out of Eight Students in Lower Manhattan Schools in Temporary Housing
At least 375 children enrolled in eight Lower Manhattan public elementary and middle schools experienced some degree of homelessness in 2024, according to statistics compiled by the City’s Department of Education (DOE). This comes to approximately 12.6 percent of all students in these schools, and represents a 25 percent jump from the corresponding tally for 2023, when there were 301 students in local schools who fell into the same category.
The DOE’s “2024 Students in Temporary Housing Report” indicates that out of a total enrollment of 2,967 pupils in an octad of local schools (P.S./I.S. 276, P.S. 89, I.S. 289, P.S. 234, P.S. 150, the Spruce Street School, the Peck Slip School, and the Lower Manhattan Community Middle School), 375 lived in temporary housing for at least part of the year. This total is likely understated, however, because the report contains no data for P.S. 234, and only partial data for P.S. 150.
The label “Temporary Housing” covers multiple varieties of homelessness or housing insecurity, including residing in a homeless shelter or transitional shelter; a hotel or motel; a park or public place; a car, bus or train; or an abandoned building. The designation includes students who are “doubled up,” meaning they are staying with friends or relatives because they cannot find or afford housing, and also encompasses the large number of children living in migrant shelters for families who are newly arrived in the United States.
Among local elementary and middle schools, the Peck Slip School (left) had the highest proportion of students in temporary housing (87 of its 368 kids, or 23.6 percent), while P.S./I.S. 276 (above) had the highest absolute number (135 of its 894 kids, or 15.1 percent). P.S. 89 and P.S. 150 were roughly tied for the lowest percentage (approximately 4.1 percent), with 14 and ten children in temporary housing, respectively.
The overall percentage for local schools is slightly lower than the same figure for all of District 2 (which includes Lower Manhattan, as well as the East Side south of 97th Street – with the exception of the Lower East Side – and the West Side south of 59th Street), which is 13.0 percent. But it is roughly in line with the figure for the New York City public school system as a whole. A recent analysis by Advocates for Children of New York, a nonprofit that pushes for high-quality education for New York students, found that in 2024, some 146,000 students (one in eight of the total, or approximately 12.5 percent) faced homelessness. This makes 2024 the ninth consecutive year in which more than 100,000 New York City public school students experienced homelessness, and represents a new record.
This is a crisis and sadly, the children are suffering. The local legislatures and city government must implement a program evaluation and needs assessment before this is a macro level issue. I’m calling on Mayor Adams to address this crisis so the children can avoid adverse changes experiences later in life.