Document Tag: housing insecurity

Arizona Student Food and Housing Insecurity (2024)

College students nationwide are increasingly facing food and housing
insecurity, issues that are often hidden and not immediately apparent. The
Hope Center’s research surveys provide the largest assessment of basic needs
security among college students in the United States, revealing that students
in Arizona are also experiencing these challenges.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services describes housing
insecurity or instability as the lack of secure shelter due to factors like “having
trouble paying rent, overcrowding, moving frequently or spending the bulk
of household income on housing.” The The U.S. Department of Agriculture
defines food insecurity as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for every
person in a household to live an active, healthy life.”
According to a study of college students in the U.S. published by the
National Institutes of Health National Library of Medicine, food insecurity is
inversely associated with degree completion and educational attainment.
Study results show that among food-insecure college students, 43.8 percent
completed their college degree compared with 68.1 percent of food-secure
college students.
Arizona’s educational attainment – the percentage of adults who earn a twoor four-year degree – is below the national average. Increasing educational
attainment is a priority for the board, as individuals with degrees not only earn
higher salaries but significantly enhance the state’s economic prosperity. To
address this, surveys were conducted at Arizona State University, Northern
Arizona University and the University of Arizona to assess student experiences
related to basic needs, particularly food and housing insecurity.
In response, student regents and the Arizona Board of Regents initiated a
tri-university work group in the 2020-21 academic year. This group was tasked
with assessing student food insecurity and housing needs, and providing
guidance on evidence-based policies and practices to address these issues.
A key recommendation, approved by the board in June 2021, requires each
university to submit an annual report detailing efforts to assess and alleviate
student food and housing needs on campus. Additional recommendations
include establishing a Basic Needs Committee at each university, and
developing a communications plan and portal to highlight and explain the
universities’ initiatives

Activating Family Safety Nets: Understanding Undergraduates’ Pandemic Housing Transitions (2024) [in press]

Safety nets are typically invisible until tested, and the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to observe how undergraduates responded to the common challenge of campus closures. Using survey data from two public universities (N=750), we investigated the factors associated with students’ reports of moving to a parent’s home as a result of the pandemic. Our findings indicate that students’ material needs stemming from loss of housing (if on campus) or employment (if off campus) significantly affected, but did not fully explain, their housing decisions. Beyond these factors, older students and those living with a romantic partner, sibling, or extended family member were less likely to move in with a parent. These findings build on research documenting class-based differences by demonstrating the importance of life stage and other social ties. Moreover, they highlight how parent-child relationships evolve during the transition to adulthood, influencing decisions to seek support in times of crisis.

“When Someone Cares About You, It’s Priceless”: Reducing Administrative Burdens and Boosting Housing Search Confidence to Increase Opportunity Moves for Voucher Holders (2023)

Using in-depth interview data from families and service providers, we examine the success of the Creating
Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) program in Seattle, focusing on how it reduced many of the learning, compliance, and psychological costs of using housing vouchers so that participants could expand their residential
choices. CMTO’s approach of combining information and flexible financial resources with personalized
high-quality assistance bolstered participants’ confidence, agency, and optimism for their housing searches
in high-opportunity neighborhoods. Accessible, collaborative, pertinent communication from program staff
was central to addressing both the psychological costs of the federal Housing Choice Voucher program and
families’ experiences in housing and social services. These results provide evidence to inform housing policy
as well as to enrich broader scholarship on program take-up, implementation research, and the role of Navigators and service quality in addressing administrative burdens low-income families face while using other
social programs.

Homelessness and Housing Insecurity Among Community College Students: A Longitudinal Evaluation of a Housing Choice Voucher Program (2024)

Housing insecurity and homelessness among American community college students are widespread
problems that reduce the odds of college attainment and undermine students’ health and well-being.
In 2014 Tacoma Community College and the Tacoma Housing Authority launched the College Housing
Assistance Program (CHAP) to address this challenge by offering housing choice vouchers to local community college students experiencing or at serious risk of experiencing homelessness. If students could
successfully navigate the application process and local housing market, the vouchers offered a short-term
subsidy to reduce their rent and hopefully promote degree completion. Over the next several years, CHAP
received national and regional awards and became a model for affordable college housing programs. This
evaluation examines its effects on students before the housing authority ended the program in 2022.

Full-Time Students With Part-Time Benefits: How Being Denied On-Campus Housing Affects College Students With Criminal Records (2020)

There are major assumptions that housing opportunities in higher education are equally accessible and available to all students. However, these accessible housing opportunities are not available to current and prospective students who possess a criminal record. Many college students with criminal records are deemed ineligible for adequate housing opportunities even before their applications are submitted. This study uses a qualitative layered analysis approach to explore how denials from on-campus housing affect college students with criminal records. Using the perspectives of this marginalized and invisible student population, we draw the reader’s attention to how students with criminal records are affected as a result of being denied on-campus housing, and we provide tangible recommendations for future research, housing practices, and housing policies in higher education.

The Housing Needs and Experiences of Project Rebound Students at Fresno State: Executive Summary (2023)

Students and formerly incarcerated people are both populations associated with increased risk for housing insecurity and homelessness (see for example, The Hope Center, 2021; Couloute,2018). Formerly incarcerated students fall into both populations. This executive summary summarizes the findings and recommendations of a study conducted for a master’s thesis that provides a better understanding of the housing needs of formerly incarcerated students, specifically, the housing needs and experiences of students in Fresno State’s Project Rebound, a support program for formerly incarcerated students.

In The Shadows Of Higher Education: Housing Insecurities Among College Students (2023)

While higher education is seen as an opportunity for social mobility for many, students who face housing and basic needs insecurities remain an issue that colleges and universities need to understand further. Students who experience food and housing insecurities struggle to persist in their academic pursuits and lack mental and physical health assistance. Limited research on housing-insecure students mainly focuses on the experiences of community college students. More research is needed to understand how housing-insecure students experience higher education at four-year universities. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with undergraduate and graduate housing-insecure students. The research questions guiding this study ask how students experience college at CSUF and, specifically, what navigational strategies these students employ as they go through higher
education. This study situates the experiences of housing-insecure students through a social reproduction lens that can better understand the relationship between schooling structures and students from low-income backgrounds. Social capital is also utilized to understand how housing-insecure students draw on their networks to navigate school despite various obstacles. Despite the lack of awareness, inadequate resources, and institutional neglect, the students in this study develop a strong sense of resilience and resistance and develop strong social networks— primarily outside of the university—to persist in their schooling endeavors. This thesis concludes by offering recommendations for universities to improve outreach and resource efforts drawing from the findings of this study.

Basic Needs Insecurity in Texas Community Colleges: Landscape Analysis (2023)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas community colleges increasingly focused on addressing students’ basic needs insecurities (BNI), such as food and housing insecurity, so that students could continue to make progress towards their academic goals. As colleges continue to recover from the pandemic lockdowns and prepare for the winding down of historic levels of government support, faculty, staff, and administrative leaders are poised to consider how best to refine, scale, and sustain their BNI service offerings to most effectively support student success.
Over the past decade, the research on BNI has grown dramatically, documenting the widespread prevalence of BNI among the student population, the negative effects of BNI on student outcomes, and promising solutions colleges have implemented to best support students. This report documents findings across several critical issue areas relevant for community college leaders to consider as they make plans for enhancing BNI service offerings.

College focused rapid rehousing: Deploying an existing community model to address homelessness on campus (2024)

Research indicates that financial and housing insecurity challenges are widespread on most college campuses throughout the U.S. However, there is wide variability in how campuses address these challenges. This study reports on a three-year implementation of the College-Focused Rapid Rehousing pilot; an initiative in California by which universities commissioned community providers to assist students in need via a modified Rapid Rehousing (RRH) intervention. RRH is a widely implemented intervention that combines move-in assistance, short-term rental subsidies, and ongoing case management, to help individuals quickly transition into stable housing. The mixed-methods evaluation included analyses of online surveys (n = 141), administrative records (n = 368), and focus groups conducted with staff across eight campuses (n = 35). Survey findings indicate that CFRR programs assisted a diverse group of students with similar histories of housing insecurity. Quantitative analyses also show that most participants experienced the intervention as designed, though with some inconsistencies in how quickly some were assisted. Qualitative findings highlight contextual factors that affected the consistency of the intervention, including tight rental markets and philosophical disagreements among administrators about the
intervention’s scope. Despite study limitations, findings provide insights into the applicability of the RRH model on campus settings and directions for future research.

Recognizing and Responding to Poverty in College Students: What can Nurses do?

People may not consider college students when they think about populations who experience poverty. However, rising costs of college and changes in student demographics have contributed to poverty within this group. Many students experience poverty and subsequent basic needs insecurity; they may lack safe housing and the ability to access adequate amounts of nutritious food. Poverty has significant mental, physical, and academic implications for these college students. Recognizing that education is a social determinant of health, it is clear that nurses can address this issue. This article provides an overview of poverty in the context of college student concerns, including actions to promote students’ well-being and academic success. We describe current interventions to support students as well as the stigma that often accompanies poverty and may prohibit a student from asking for help. The authors present information for nurses in various roles on college campuses, such as educator and advocate; advanced practice program faculty; and student healthcare provider. An exemplar describes how faculty at one school of nursing have responded to student poverty concerns. Finally, we suggest recommendations to begin or enhance current efforts to address poverty in college students.