Bed-Stuy, Brownsville Among Nabes With Most Homeless Students In City: Report

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN – Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville are among city neighborhoods with the highest rates of student homelessness, according to a report released Monday.

In both neighborhoods, 15.2 percent of students experienced homelessness in the 2015-16 school year, according to the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness.

One out of every eight students in the city – more than 127,000 pupils – has experienced homelessness in the past five years, according to the report.

The only neighborhoods with more homeless students than Bed-Stuy and Brownsville were Highbridge in the Bronx (where the rate was 18 percent) and Central Harlem (16 percent).

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The school district covering Ozone Park and Howard Beach, Queens had the lowest rate of student homelessness in the city, at 4.3 percent.

The report noted that student homelessness increased in every school district in the city from the 2014-15 school year to 2015-16.

“Their numbers continue to grow. One out of every seven elementary school students will be condemned to an inferior education if the necessary educational supports and services are not provided on a timely basis," Dr. Ralph da Costa Nunez, head of the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness, said in a statement.

The study said homelessness led to low academic performance and a drop-out rate twice that of the citywide average.

The report also noted chronic absenteeism can result from being homeless. In Bed-Stuy and Brownsville, more than 43 percent of homeless students were found to be chronically absent.

Lead image courtesy Institute Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness.