Most homeless kids won’t get Wi-Fi until June

City plans access in shelters after school ends

Most students in homeless shelters will not get Wi-Fi in their buildings until after this school year ends, according to a Wednesday letter from the city to advocates.

The announcement comes days after Mayor de Blasio said that WiFi was coming to all family homeless shelters, but the more detailed letter shows the scope of the project and just how difficult and slow the city believes the process will be.

“The aggressive goal is to have all sites complete this summer, and 27 priority sites (selected on the basis of reports of connectivity problems) complete this winter,” wrote Martha Calhoun, a lawyer for the city’s Department of Homeless Services.

“For context, under normal circumstances, a massive build-out like this could easily take over two years to complete,” she continued.

The city plans to install Wi-Fi in 240 family homeless shelters and domestic violence shelters, which includes family shelters the city plans to build, according to the letter.

There are approximately 12,000 schoolchildren in these buildings, according to the city.

The plan and the mayor’s announcement Monday that his administration would work to provide Wi-Fi in all family shelters follow Daily News reports on several families in shelters that were struggling to attend remote classes due to internet and connectivity issues on their DOE-issued tablets.

The tablets are currently connected to cellular data for internet access, with T-Mobile and Verizon each providing service. Some of the shelters exist in cell data dead zones, however, making it difficult for students to connect on the iPads.

The letter from DHS also said that Verizon service works better in most homeless shelters, and that any family struggling with internet access before Wi-Fi is installed can have their tablet switched to Verizon from T-Mobile.

But advocates say the timeline for the Wi-Fi installation is unacceptable.

“The city’s plan is simply insufficient, and families in shelters will continue to grapple with shoddy internet for weeks and months, impairing access to remote learning,” said Susan Horwitz, supervising attorney of the Education Law Project at the Legal Aid Society. “This is another problem solely of the city’s own making that could have been avoided months, if not years ago, if decision makers at City Hall actually listened to our clients’ concerns.”

Horwitz called the plan “unacceptable” and said the Legal Aid Society will sue if the city does not expedite the installation of Wi-Fi.

Katlyn Winegardner, a Manhattan mom, lives in one of the homeless shelters that will be getting Wi-Fi by the winter. Still, after struggling to get her kids into remote classes due to spotty internet for a month, she says a year is too long for other homeless kids.

“It sounds like if you’re a child in a shelter you are automatically being set back a year,” said Winegardner.

The city’s plan is simply insufficient, and families in shelters will continue to grapple with shoddy internet for weeks and months, impairing access to remote learning.

SUSAN HORWITZ, SUPERVISING ATTORNEY OF THE EDUCATION LAW PROJECT AT THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY.