As the city continues to grapple with a homeless shelter system that is bursting at the seams, a new database from the Comptroller's Office that breaks down the population in city-run shelters based on demographic information shows a steep rise in the number of homeless youth in the city's care — specifically in the past year.

"Over the last two years, we've welcomed tens of thousands of asylum seekers, many that don't have a place to stay and so are seeking shelter,” New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said. "That happened right as the eviction moratorium that was in place during the pandemic expired.”

In addition to the surge of newly arrived migrants in the city's care and the end of the pandemic-era eviction moratorium, Lander said the continuing trend of rents going up has also made the homeless situation worse.

According to information from the Comptroller's "Charting Homelessness in NYC" dashboard, which tracks data from the city's Department of Homeless Services, each month from January to September of 2023, between 25,000 and 34,000 children lived in city-run shelters, an average of nearly 29,000 a month.

That's about 60% higher than the same time period in 2022, and coincides with the beginning of the city's migrant crisis and end of its pandemic-era eviction moratorium.

"The face of homelessness in New York, is a 5-year-old child with a working mother," said Christine Quinn, former City Council Speaker and president of Women in Need, or WIN, which provides shelter and supportive housing to families in the city.

Quinn said experiencing homelessness as a child can be traumatic.

Lurden Corona lived in the city's shelter system with her son from 2015 to 2018, when she said she noticed changes in his behavior.

"He really didn't speak, but his actions spoke louder," she said. "He wasn't smiling anymore. He was acting out in school and throwing things. So it really made a big impact on him."

While the comptroller's office said the city's voucher program and other services are helping more people to permanently leave shelters, experts said expanding services to undocumented individuals and increasing income limits will make a bigger impact.

"Like slightly raise the amount of money someone can be making to still qualify for a voucher," Quinn said.

Corona said her Section 8 voucher helped her leave the system.

"It felt and it feels good, getting the apartment on my own,” she said.

According to the comptroller's office, the city's shelter population rose sharply over the past two years, by 167%. More than 120,000 individuals were housed in the city-run homeless shelters in February of this year, including newly arrived migrants and asylum seekers.