WESTWOOD—A newly released report from UCLA found that 298,254 K-12 students were homeless in California during the 2024-2025 school year. This was the highest number ever recorded in the state and marked a 10 percent increase since the 2018-2019 school year.
Researchers analyzed data from the California Department of Education to understand how homeless students performed compared to their peers. The findings showed that unhoused students scored roughly 20 percent lower than housed peers on state academic benchmarks.
Seven of the ten school districts with the highest counts of students experiencing homelessness were in Southern California. Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties together accounted for half of the state’s homeless student population.
UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools found that “housing instability affects attendance, academic achievement, graduation, and college-going.”
The report was released after California approved a one-time $116 million allocation to help schools identify homeless K-12 students and connect them with support.
“This new funding is the largest dedicated state funding to prioritize housing-insecure youth in the country. We look forward to working with our state’s policymakers and educators to ensure that California’s most housing-insecure students have an equitable opportunity to succeed. Our hope is that this new research can serve as a roadmap for prevention and systems change,” said Joseph Bishop, executive director of the Center for the Transformation of Schools.
The Los Angeles Unified School District projects an $877 million deficit for the 2026-2027 school year and is in the process of laying off employees and cutting programs.
By Milan Manesh