A new report from the National Center on Family Homelessness says more than 45,000 Georgia children were homeless last year. That number, along with high risk for homelessness and a low level of general child well-being, led the organization to rank Georgia in the bottom fifth of all states. But the state has made some progress.

Georgia’s ranking of 41st in the nation is actually an improvement from four years ago, when the state ranked second to last in terms of child homelessness and well-being.

Katheryn Preston, executive director of the Georgia Alliance to End Homelessness, says that after being rated so low, a group of organizations banded together to start modeling best practices from other states. Those approaches include more aggressive efforts to prevent families from losing their homes in the first place.

"Because if we begin to do the prevention on the front end, we’re going to save many more dollars than what it’s going to cost on the back end by the time someone has had to get into the system," Preston says.

Preston says the state has also increased the number of beds in emergency housing, especially for families and children. But the need for housing continues to surpass the number of new beds and shelters the state is opening.

Read the full reportfrom the National Center on Family Homelessness here.