A new bill in the Golden State would allow homeless community college and state university students to sleep in their cars during the blue state’s housing crisis.
A Public Policy Institute of California report found California has among the lowest homeownership rates and the most expensive housing in the U.S., with rent about 50% higher than the national median.
The California bill seeks to provide a short-term solution to the state’s decades-long housing strife.
Assemblymember Corey Jackson, a progressive California Democrat with a doctorate in social work, proposed a bill in March that would require the chancellors of the California state universities and the governing board of each community college district to develop an overnight parking program with “basic needs coordinators and campus security” by late 2026.
“This bill confronts a harsh reality to many of our students who are sleeping in their vehicles or other displaced settings as they are unable to find affordable housing, and that’s jeopardizing their education,” Jackson said. “What I am proposing is practical, immediate relief, overnight parking programs that turn campus lots into safe, temporary havens while the state works on lasting solutions.”
Almost three out of five California community college students are housing insecure and one in four are homeless, a survey conducted by the Community College League of California in 2023 found.
