Connecticut expects 25% increase in students experiencing homelessness

“The population of students who are not homeless have an 89.8% four-year graduation rate, as of 2020-2021. Students experiencing homelessness have a 66.3% graduation rate.”

The Connecticut Department of Education is expecting a 25% increase of students experiencing homelessness this school year, which could mark the highest number of students without stable housing since 2017, a state official said.

The Department of Education reported that 3,979 students experienced homelessness throughout the 2021-22 school year, defining homelessness as “children and youth who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence,” including students who are “doubled-up” and living with friends or extended family, in a shelter, in a motel/hotel or in a car, park or other unsheltered location.

Initial data show the number could increase toward 5,000 students by the end of the 202223 academic year, according to Louis Tallarita, an education consultant with the Department of Education.

“I would probably estimate … based upon our October census data, it would be about — at least — a 25% increase over last year, “Tallarita said at a state Board of Education meeting on Feb. 1. “That’s just my own examination of that data in terms of trends that we have seen in other years.”

The state Department of Education collects enrollment data of students experiencing homelessness twice a year, in October and June. The data is analyzed at the end of the school year, and the state submits that information to the federal government.

This school year, there were 2,470 students experiencing homelessness in October. The October data are still being refined, said Eric Scoville, the agency’s communication director, adding that “any estimates are preliminary and subject to change.”

In 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, the number of students experiencing homelessness in June was about twice the number from the previous October, state data show.

If the trend were to continue and Tallarita’s projections are correct, more students could be experiencing homelessness this year than any year since 2017-18, when Connecticut had an “influx of students arriving from Puerto Rico and other affected areas as a result of Hurricane