Homeless families ACS

Hi, I am trying to figure out why there is such a large discrepancy between a just-published NYC Board of Ed report on homeless public school students, which said that one of every 8 students was homeless at some point during the last year, and the tiny numbers of children living in group quarters in the ACS data.

I’m not aware of the methods used in the NYC Board of Education report, however I can discuss a few reasons their findings may be different from what’s available through the ACS:

  • The statistic states that one of every 8 students was homeless at some point during the last year, however residence in the ACS is recorded only once at the time of interview. A smaller fraction of people will be homeless at any particular point in time than at some point during the year.
  • While the ACS surveys facilities for people experiencing homelessness, it excludes certain GQ types such as domestic violence shelters, targeted non-sheltered outdoor locations, and dangerous encampments due to concerns about privacy and operational feasibility (see the ACS design and methodology report for more details). It may be that homeless students in NYC are more likely to reside in the latter group, or even in places that do not have a physical address such as a parked car.
  • Respondents in group quarters are sampled using a roster of residents. However, if a homeless student is at the shelter for a short period of time then the roster might miss them (even though all residents of a sampled GQ should be included regardless of their length of stay) or they may leave the facility before completing the survey.