Think of the Children—For Real This Time

The Shocking Number of Children Being Evicted and Becoming Homeless

Frinkiac screen capture, The Simpsons, Season 7, Episode 23

This piece originally appeared on Fran Quigley’s blog Housing Is A Human Right on May 23, 2025.

The sappy call to “think of the children” is so much of a cliché that the phrase has its own Wikipedia page, where you can learn that it was invoked in the films Mary Poppins, Annie, and in emotional 1980’s charity commercials. For many of us, the phrase is mostly a meme based on the minister-wife character Helen Lovejoy repeatedly crying out in Simpsons episodes.

But, seriously, let’s think of the children.

A new report by SchoolHouse Connection and the University of Michigan provides some shocking data: nearly a half-million infants and toddlers were homeless during the studied years of 2022 and 2023. For pre-K to grade 12 students, the number is 1.37 million. For context, the total number of kids experiencing homelessness in the U.S. over the course of just two years is significantly larger than the entire population of the city of Philadelphia.

We should not be surprised. Thanks to the research of Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, we have long known that children are the most common demographic among the 7.6 million people who face eviction each year. Our time in eviction court has shown us why: the childcare obligations of parents with young kids can make it more difficult for them to keep steady work—especially if kids get sick or live with disabilities. And the parents are earlier in their work careers than older adults.

Overall, that means families with young children have significantly lower income than other families. Subsidized housing for families has years-long waiting lists, and family shelters are usually full.

This is worth thinking about when the Trump administration proposes work requirements for housing and medical care—requirements that are notorious for red-tape disqualifying those who can’t work -- and time limits on housing assistance.

The total number of kids experiencing homelessness in the U.S. over the course of just two years is significantly larger than the entire population of the city of Philadelphia.

I don’t think the parents we see in eviction court deserve blame for their crises, much less the loss of their homes. There will be no stones thrown from this glass house, where I was a very imperfect parent even without enduring the financial crises that lead to the mental health and physical health struggles our parent clients are facing.

But even those who may be more willing to judge or even punish those parents should consider that the pain of time-limits and work-requirements will not be endured by mom and dad alone. Children will pay the price.

And we should find no comfort in “think of the children’s” counter-cliché, “children are resilient.” Multiple studies have shown that evictions and homelessness contribute to children’s mental illnesses, respiratory conditions, infections, delayed cognitive development, and struggles in school and social settings.

Helen Lovejoy isn’t wrong: when it comes to housing, we really should be thinking about the children.