Housing insecurity has hurt kids' chances of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles and much of California. Last year, two in five Los Angeles Unified School District students missed more than 10% of the school year, according to data supplied by the district. Elmer Roldan, executive director of Communities in Schools of Los Angeles, says housing is the biggest reason kids aren’t going to school. Most students the government considers “homeless” have a place to sleep, but it’s often shared with roommates. In Los Angeles, more than 13,000 students are homeless and 2,000 of them stay in shelters, the city’s superintendent said.
