More than 53,000 city public-school students lack a permanent home — a fivefold increase over 2008, figures show.
While the economy’s collapse led to a huge spike in the number of homeless kids in public schools, the figure has continued to climb by more than 10,000 kids since 2010, according to city Department of Education data.
As of October 2012, one out of every 20 public-school students was living in a shelter, at an address shared by multiple families or in a hotel or motel.
And the numbers could get even worse, advocates say.
They point to a 24 percent increase in the number of children in the city’s shelter system — to more than 21,000 a night — from March 2012 to March 2013.
“It’s certainly not surprising at all that you would see the same kinds of increases playing out in the public schools,” said Patrick Markee, senior policy analyst at the Coalition for the Homeless.
“The continuing economic crisis and the high cost of housing continue to be pricing out more and more kids and families from the housing market,” Markee said. “At the same time, the failures of Mayor Bloomerg’s policies . . . have contributed to all-time records of homelessness.”
Markee cited the elimination of affordable-housing assistance as a major source of the problem.
At the new PS 110 in Long Island City, Queens, 44 percent of students lack permanent shelter. At Christopher Avenue Community School in Brownsville, Brooklyn, 42 percent are homeless.
“I can’t get access to a computer here. The person who opens up the computer room only comes on certain days in the morning. That doesn’t help get my homework done,” said Savion Edmonds, a 13-year-old at Kappa V middle school in Brownsville who’s at his third shelter with his father. “It’s hard to study when you have so many other things to worry about.”
Lauren Roman, 10, is staying in a shelter in Flatlands, Brooklyn, with mom Melody and brother Cameron but attends PS 116 in Ridgewood. She, too, struggles to find a place to do homework.
“It’s hot and loud because of all the cars,” she said of the shelter. “I feel like I can only do my work when I’m waiting for the bus.”
DOE spokeswoman Connie Pankratz attributed the October 2012 spike to a data-sharing agreement with the Department of Homeless Services that led principals to report data earlier in the year than normal.
She said the number of kids without shelter at any point had not shown a similar increase.
DOE data showed that from September 2011 to June 2012, 69,335 lacked permanent shelter at some point. From September 2012 to late April 2013, 68,938 did.
Additional reporting by Lia Eustachewich and Amber Sutherland