Number of Homeless Children Living in NYC Shelters Highest since Great Depression

The number of people living in homeless shelters in New York City increased 17 percent in the last year, and the number of children in shelters rose 18 percent, the New York Daily News reports. More than 2,000 kids have become homeless since May, bringing the total number of homeless children in NYC to 19,000 — the highest number since the Great Depression. Ralph da Costa Nunez, CEO of the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness, said, “If the trend continues, we will surely see more than 20,000 children living in shelters by Christmas.” Last year, the total number of homeless students living in the U.S. topped one million for the first time.

— Greg Noth