Cal State University looks to stem homelessness, hunger among students

On the heels of a report showing close to one in 10u2009Calu2009State University students are homeless or face housing instability, officials met this week in Longu2009Beach to come up with solutions to help students.

“I think we’re going to start getting some greater awareness across this country because of Calu2009State — because of our size and importance — is raising this issue across the nation, and we’re not alone in doing so,” Chancellor Timothy P. White said at the outset of the two-day meeting at the Chancellor’s Office.

The meeting followed a report earlier this year estimating that 8.7u2009percent of CSU students face housing instability and 21u2009percent experience food insecurity.

White commissioned the study in Februaryu20092015 to examine what campuses in the 23-school system were doing to address the issue. Students struggling to find stable housing and adequate food reported high levels of stress and the need for campus contacts to guide them to services.

Rashida Crutchfield, an assistant professor in social work at Calu2009State Longu2009Beach, co-authored the study with Jeifer Maguire, an assistant professor in social work at Humboldt State University.

They looked at unstable housing, defined as living in places not designated as places for residential living, such as cars, hotels, shelters, transitional housing or “couch surfing.” The U.S. Agriculture Department says food insecurity occurs where “consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year.”

In a CSU system of 470,000u2009students, nearly 41,000u2009experience housing instability, and those worried about hunger are estimated at 98,700.

“There has never been a study nor a systemwide response as large as this,” Crutchfield said.

While 56,588u2009students nationally and about 10,000u2009students in Califoia identified themselves as independent homeless youth on financial aid paperwork in 2013-14, Crutchfield said that likely is a very low count, as students are not required to report if they are homeless.

In many cases, students see homelessness only as living on the street, Crutchfield said at the meeting. The numbers in the report should inspire more CSU work to combat the problem, Crutchfield said.

“For us, seeing the big picture is really helpful,” she said

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The report revealed that 11u2009campuses had programs for food insecure students, ranging from small pantries to large food programs and services. One campus had a program directed at housing displacement, and five campuses incorporate student needs as a part of student success directives and the university mission.

Program examples include:

•u2009Calu2009State Longu2009Beach’s Student Emergency Intervention Program provides meals, short-term temporary housing, emergency funds, and linkages to on- and off-campus support services.

•u2009CSU Sanu2009Beardino’s Delivering Emergency Nourishment is a food pantry stocked by contributions from the community.

•u2009CSU Dominguezu2009Hills in Carson offers a food pantry and Hot Meal Card program.

Jessica Sutherland, president and co-founder of Homeless to HigherEd, a nonprofit raising awareness about the issue of homeless students and helping that population graduate, said many such students don’t know where to tu for help, even if campuses offer programs.

“I’d love to see these kind of resources be listed and be as popular as LGBTQ centers, as disability/accessibility groups are,” Sutherland said.

Sutherland endured homelessness near Cleveland, Ohio, and thanks mentors for helping her graduate from Clevelandu2009State University in 2006. She went on to ea her master’s degree in fine arts from USC.

White, who revealed that he also used food stamps and county-supported housing while attending then-Fresno State College in the 1960s, said CSU is investing another $300,000 to continue to study the issue across all campuses with the aim to launch more campus-based intervention programs and establish systemwide policies.

“Getting this right is something that we just simply have to do,” White said.