PS 152
Feb. 15, 2017 By Hannah Wulkan
More than five percent of students in Western Queens schools have been homeless in the past five years, according to a recent study.
According to a report released by the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness, approximately 5.2 percent of children in District 30, which covers Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, and parts of Woodside and Jackson Heights, have experienced homelessness in the last five years.
Schools such as P.S. 152 at 33-52 62nd Street in Woodside reported a child homeless rate of 17.5 percent.
The rate of homeless students in District 30 is lower than the average across the city as a whole, where the homeless rate among students is at about a 12.5 percent.
The organization released a map breaking the data down by school, which “provides a detailed picture of homelessness within the City’s educational system: where homeless students go to school, what kinds of supports they may need, what their academic outcomes look like, what differences exist by the type of homelessness a student experiences, and what the lasting impacts of homelessness are educationally—even after a student’s housing instability has ended,” the report explains.
The largest percentage of homeless students in District 30 schools was in the Academy for New Americans at 30-14 30th Street in Astoria, which has 72 homeless students out of 211 total, or a 34.1 percent rate of homelessness among students, the data in the study shows.
It also shows an 18.3 percent homelessness rate among students at Newcomers High School at 28-01 41st Avenue in Long Island City, and a 17.5 percent homelessness rate at P.S. 152 at 33-52 62nd Street in Woodside.
However many schools in the district had a very small rate of homelessness. Fifteen schools in the district had less than 10 homeless students.
Other schools in the district saw rates of 1.4 and 1.5 percent, indicating very low numbers of homeless students.
Only eight schools out of the 47 in the district saw more than 10 percent of homeless students.
The report shows that about one in eight students has experienced homelessness in the last five years in New York City as a whole, and also broke the trend down by race, showing that over half the homeless students throughout the city were Hispanic, 34 percent were black, nine percent were Asian and four percent were white.
It showed that students who experienced homelessness had a 17.8 percent dropout rate, compared to the citywide rate of nine percent, and students who experienced homelessness had a 52 percent graduation rate, compared with a citywide rate of 70 percent.
“Children who experience housing instability struggle more academically, not because they have less potential than other children, but because they must constantly deal with the stress of uncertainty—will they have food, clean clothes, a safe place to sleep? Education is key to breaking the cycle of poverty and ensuring homeless children have access to a better future,” the report explains.
“With more and more children experiencing homelessness, it is vitally important to understand the unique challenges that homeless students face and the interventions and opportunities available to meet their needs,” it continues.
For the study, please click here.
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17 Comments
What a great piece. Thank for you for reporting the truth. I wonder how many children will have to suffer with hunger, poverty and homelessness, until we as a people come together to to help the MAJORITY of suffering people in NYC.
There is no checking of immigration status when a child registers for school. Some of these homeless kids may be illegal too. Money is tight because it is harder, though not impossible to work as an illegal. Also, many are sending large percentages of money back to ,” my country” as they say, never acknowledging any allegiance to the US. ( at one point I worked in the city schools, so my comments are from what I personally saw)!
My Name is Minister Jerome Meriweather it is truly a problem to be in the Richest City in the World and these poor children are not put first in terms of poverty and education , proper diet, clothing and Housing.We are failing them tremendously. There plenty resources to help the Homeless children and adults. Many of the Rich people and Congress need to set up a nation wide program to combat homelessness please call me 917-937-8386 to speak at an invitation only Request on the Subject I have been homeless before I know what it’s like. I’m not homeless anymore because you have to make changes in your life to do a better job to advance in life.
Jerome, no offense to your message and story, but you chose a comically bad platform to attempt some sort of community outreach or speaking gig network. Unless you have some good sermons on how the good ole days are gone and some scripture on hipster bashing- Sunnyside Post might not be the platform, champ…
I blame the Federal Reserve. It’s as “Federal” as Federal Express.
Pretty stupid letter even for a SUNNYSIDE resident.
You can’t prevent people from being idiots. Hyperinflation is the end game.
Funny. It’s hard to tell sarcasm online sometimes, but if it’s a sincere post – this is probably the comment that hits closest to the root cause(s) of the many problems in the United States and I certainly see it extending to what the article’s describing. Yet it goes over the heads of most people… it “must be a conspiracy theory” (completely missing the irony along the way!)
No sarcasm. The Federal Reserve hits the poorest people the hardest through the debasement of the currency.
people having kids they cant afford is the problem. that and welfare that empowers morons to have kids without repercussions. it sucks to be them. i spent many years in my youth in middle school traveling from a jamaica queens hotel homeless shelter, all the way to manhattan every day 4 hours a day total. many years later, its a huge struggle, even now, just to get by. even though i am sort of in better circumstances, i still operate under that insecurity and that mentality. it never goes away. i promised myself i would never have kids. no need to make my misery 100 times worse.
Let’s take care of these kids first before we start bringing in thousands of middle eastern refugees who go straight to the front of the benefits line for some reason. Same goes for homeless and unemployed war vets.
Charity begins at home. Time to prioritize.
“. . .go straight to the front of the benefits line” Prove this nonsense with evidence. Oh wait, you don’t have any. Homelessness exists because conservatives don’t believe in a welfare state. Unemployment exists for everybody, not just vets.
Where do you think all these Syrian refugees go when the government flies them in? They don’t dump them in Penn Station and say “good luck”.
And no, unemployment doesn’t exist for everyone, as you say. It exists for working people who have paid into the system and they are paid in accordance with their former salaries when they lose their jobs. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.
Yep, and it seems like “everybody” is getting it.. The land of opportunity
Yeah lucky it seems. Lucky7 and Putin killed the Easter bunny are the same individual. Jerk responds to his own posts. Get a life dude.
There is a space after “Lucky” sweetheart.
And the real estate people continue to build only luxury housing, driving prices up everywhere and creating more homeless parents and children. Sickening.