Boston Public Schools reports 3,500 of their students are experiencing homelessness. (The real number is expected to be closer to 5,000 because of the stigma associated with homelessness.) These are the city’s children, our children, and our families. They are in every Boston public school, sitting in the seats next to our children, riding the bus and finding room at the lunch table with our children. Most are part of a family unit, though a number of them — an actual number is nearly impossible to ascertain — are homeless and alone. Homelessness disrupts education. Children without stable housing and no place to study or do homework are known to drop out of middle school temporarily. Seventy-five percent drop out of high school permanently leading to a life of poverty and another generation of homeless.