Homelessness is soaring among Seattle students. School support workers are on the front lines

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group of fifth graders is rolling a cart stacked high with crates down the halls of Dunlap Elementary School in Seattle on a recent Friday afternoon.

It's a highlight every week. The students get a little break from class, and they each get to take turns "driving" the cart — a challenge at times, since most of them have to stand on their tippy-toes to see over the crates.

But more importantly, these Friday adventures are a learning experience about community service: They're helping deliver bags of food for fellow students in need.

The students stop outside each classroom, where there's a list of how many students need a bag. Each will go to a family experiencing homelessness or just struggling to make ends meet — to help them get through the weekend, when kids don't have access to those two guaranteed free, hot meals in the school cafeteria.

This is just one example of the kinds of things Rogers Greene — "Mr. Greene" as the students call him — does as Dunlap's family support worker.

These staffers are stationed at schools to help students experiencing homelessness. At Dunlap, that's about 15% of the student body. And nearly 70% of students at the southeast Seattle elementary school come from low-income families.

"If you're homeless, sleeping under a bridge or in a car, or needed a place to stay the night before," Greene said, "it's going to be that much more difficult for you to show up and be present and be able to absorb some learning."

This role is becoming increasingly important to school communities as homelessness soars.

RELATED: U.S. homelessness jumps to another record high, amid affordable housing shortage

A recent U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report found homelessness across the nation spiked to the highest level on record in 2024.

It's a similar story here. As of October, more than 2,200 Seattle Public Schools students were currently — or had been — homeless this school year. That's a nearly 20% increase.

RELATED: A troubling trend. Seattle reports another nearly 20% increase in homeless students

And the year before that, the district recorded a more than 30% jump.

RELATED: Student homelessness in Seattle schools jumps by a third in 2023

District officials say families continue to be hit hard by inflation and often struggle to find affordable housing in an expensive city like Seattle.

Another thing the district has noticed with homelessness is an increase in immigrants and refugees fleeing war-torn countries, especially from South American countries.

Greene has seen this firsthand at Dunlap.

"We have some students from Ukraine and Afghanistan that came a few years ago, when they had all the upheaval," he said. "Their families were families that were supporting our troops."

As Greene supervised recess, he pointed out one of these students, happily playing with friends nearby. Her family immigrated to Seattle four years ago, after the U.S. left Afghanistan.

It's amazing to see all the progress she's made in learning English, Greene said, and seeing the resilience of students like her reminds him why his job matters.

"You're removing barriers to students being able to be here and be here daily, consistently to access their educational opportunities," he said.

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Jenny Allen is a McKinney-Vento family support worker who oversees homeless services at 24 schools across Seattle. With the increase of students who don't speak English as their first language, Allen said family support workers like Greene are key to helping break down language and cultural barriers.

They also play a critical role in connecting families with housing, health care, and other social services.

"A lot of it is providing information around what's in the neighborhood," Allen said. "What do they know about their local food bank? What do they know about agencies that are close by their school that can support them?"

Even as the mix of families changes year to year, Allen said the district has to stay focused on specific ways to help students while they're in school — and that has its limits.

"I do have to say to families a lot, 'We're not a housing provider,' and, 'We don't locate apartments,'" she said. "It's tough when the demand is so high, and I think families sometimes don't realize the scope of the issue across the city."

Allen said her group tries to focus its efforts on making sure students are succeeding at school.

"That means we set up transportation wherever the family may move, and we make sure the family has food, the child has school supplies, and can get access to tutoring, if necessary, to help support them with their journey in their education," she said.

Given that student and family needs change in any given moment, Greene is a bit of a "jack of all trades" at Dunlap. Every day is a different story, but what is consistent is that he supervises lunch and recess — so he can connect with as many of the school's 260 kids as possible and identify whether they may need his services.

During recess, sometimes kids gather in his classroom to listen to music, play games, and talk with Greene one-on-one.

If a student or their family needs any basic necessities, chances are, Greene has it in his classroom. The room is filled to the brim with pretty much anything you can think of — food, shoes, backpacks, winter coats, and other clothes, both for kids and babies.

Greene also organizes giveaways for things like bikes in the fall and spring, turkeys and other Thanksgiving foods in November, and holiday gifts in December.

"He kind of helps everyone out," as one fifth-grader put it.

But those physical things Greene gives families are just the start of his contributions to the Dunlap community, Principal Tonie Talbert said.

For example, Talbert said, if a student has been absent, Greene will call families — or he'll even hop on his bike and drop in at their home to make sure everything is alright.

"I used to think, 'Oh, family support workers, they just help families with clothes and shoes,''' she said. "But no, it's so much more than that."

Greene also runs a mentorship group for boys of color. Every week, Greene teaches them different life skills — anything from Black history and public speaking to cooking.

Greene hopes things like that can make school a safe, fun place for students — despite whatever might be going on at home.