number of homeless young children reaches record levels
in new york city, new report finds

Nearly Half of All Children in NYC Shelters are Younger Than Six;
Rate of Homeless Impoverished African American Young Children 22 Percent

Nearly half of all children in New York City shelters are under age of six, a report by the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School reveals.

NEW YORK (Jan. 28, 2015) - The number of children 5 years old or younger in New York City homeless shelters is at or near record levels, according to a new report by the Center for New York City Affairs (CNYCA) at The New School.

The report, “In Need of Shelter,” found that more than 19,000 such youngsters – enough to overflow the stands at Barclays Center – lived in shelters during the past city fiscal year. Nearly half of children in shelters are younger than 6 years old.

The number of such very young homeless children in city shelters has grown by roughly 60% since 2006.  As the report stresses, “For women in precarious housing situations, a pregnancy or new baby often heralds the moment they’re pushed out of the homes of friends or relatives and into the shelter system.”

These steep increases mean that roughly three of every 100 city kids younger than 5 years old– and 22% of such African American youngsters whose families live below the poverty line – are at risk of the serious developmental and emotional stresses often accompanying homelessness and poverty. 

Meanwhile, the average length of stay in family shelters has jumped by more than 50% in recent years, from 281 days in city fiscal year 2009 to 427 days in fiscal 2014, the report finds.

In the wake of deaths late last year of two small children in shelters – both, deaths, authorities charge, at the hands of adult caretakers – the de Blasio administration, which has instituted measures to move families out of shelters, has also recently taken new steps to protect especially vulnerable youngsters while in shelters.

“While that’s an important start, it’s only a start,” says CNYCA’s interim director Clara Hemphill.  “We must also address the emotional well-being of babies and toddlers in shelters who are in the crucial years of their cognitive development. Providing support for things like parent-infant bonding is a chance to meaningfully influence the trajectory of thousands of young lives, and potentially avoid the need for more costly interventions later on.” 

Additionally, the report discloses that the city’s inter-agency Children’s Cabinet, chaired by Deputy Mayor Richard Buery, which oversaw the launch of the administration’s universal pre-k initiative, is now giving top priority to finding ways to support the healthy cognitive development of impoverished children in the city – including very young homeless kids. 

The report, which is published in the latest issue of CYNCA’s Child Welfare Watch, profiles several new initiatives being proposed for city shelters that are designed to help homeless parents reduce the distress their very young children may face and support their development.  It also sets out a range of no- and low-cost recommendations for improving the odds for the city’s youngest homeless kids.

At the same time, “In Need of Shelter” portrays the daunting challenges that city policymakers and frontline service providers face in helping homeless families with small children. In addition to the sharp increase in homeless city kids, they include:

• A longstanding lack of developmental supports for young homeless children, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence about the importance of the early years to lifelong development and the benefits of such supports;
• A pervasive apprehension among homeless families that the city agency that most frequently provides supports services– the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), which has open cases for about 25 percent of families in shelters – may remove their children to foster care; and
• Insufficient coordination and communication among DHS, ACS, and the city Human Resources Administration that has hampered enrollment of homeless youngsters in subsidized “EarlyLearnNYC” child care programs that could prepare youngsters for school while also reducing stresses on their parents.

To download the full report, visit http://www.centernyc.org/inneedofshelter.

The Center for New York City Affairs at The New School is an applied policy research institute that drives innovation in social policy.  It works where people's lives intersect with government and community organizations.  Its findings have spurred major efforts in such areas as reducing chronic public school absenteeism and reforming mental health evaluations for parents in Family Court. For more information, visit http://www.centernyc.org.

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Media Contacts:

Kendra Hurley,
The New School
212-229-5400 x. 1501
[email protected]