Giving Compass' Take:

• Andre Perry, writing for The Hechinger Report, argues that student homelessness is a problem due to failed affordable housing policies, and not on the fault of the students or the families.

• Addressing the issue of homelessness with comprehensive legislation on affordable housing would be ideal. However, since it is not a reality, what are some community-based solutions that can temporarily battle student homelessness?

• Read more about the number of homeless students currently living in NYC.

One out of every ten New York City public school students lived in temporary housing in 2017, according to a sobering October 15 article by The New York Times. That amounts to 114,659 students sleeping in hotels, motels, others’ couches, temporary shelters and the unsheltered streets of New York City.

The article showed that the total number of homeless students was more than the entire population of Albany, the state capital. Put closing the achievement gap bombast to bed till students have one to sleep in.

Rhetoric around the need to close the achievement gap feeds into a warped notion of individualism — that students need to pick themselves up by their academic bootstraps — and misses the real needs that kids have, which should be supported through policy. Students and their families need secure, affordable homes in safe neighborhoods and a living wage, which can be addressed through policy.

Student homelessness of this magnitude is not an individual failure — it’s a failure of policy to address families’ basic needs and made worse by the systemic problems of unaffordable housing and low wages.

Homelessness isn’t just a New York City problem. However, it is most profound in urban districts where people of color live in high concentrations. Research shows that homelessness interacts with a number of other risk factors that predict for lower academic achievement, including poverty, chronic absenteeism, violence and food insecurity, all of which form a harmful combination of barriers that are manifested in students’ academic records

Our obsession with closing achievement gaps misses the disparities around basic needs such as housing. Homework will always be secondary to a home. Grades may be the furthest thing from a homeless child’s mind.

Read the full article about student homelessness by Andre Perry at The Hechinger Report