Trying Not To Break Down — A Homeless Teen Navigates Middle School

Caydden, 14, and Keston Zimmerman, 11, sit outside a homeless shelter in Boise, Idaho,  with their grandmother Pam Cantrell. They’ve been searching for housing for three months

Amanda Preacher / Boise State Public Radio

Fourteen-year-old Caydden Zimmerman’s school days start early and end late.

He has a 90-minute bus ride to get from the homeless shelter where he is staying in Boise, Idaho, to his middle school. He wakes up at 5:45 a.m., quickly brushes his teeth and smooths some gel in his hair, and then he dashes downstairs to catch his school bus.

About 2.5 million children in the U.S. currently are homeless, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness. That number is rising as house prices and rental costs continue to grow in cities large and small, and the trend is clearly visible in Boise — the fastest-growing city in the nation.