According to an article published in 2021 by the NPR-sponsored radio program KLCC, Oregon’s Affordable Housing Crisis Impacts College Students, Oregon received $200 million dollars to build low-income housing in 2019. Not a dollar of that figure was budgeted for college students or young adults experiencing homelessness who could only dream of attending college one day. There are too many barriers for low-income students seeking an apartment. Non-refundable application fees, security deposits, and the ability to show you earn three times your rent sets up a Catch-22 for those just starting out in life. How is a student supposed to earn three times their rent without a college degree required to attain living-wage employment? The laws prohibiting low-income college students from renting an affordable unit in subsidized housing need to change.
The motto of the company that owns my low-income apartment complex is: “Everyone deserves a place to call home.” I live in one of 90 units in a building that, despite being zoned for LIHTC (Low-Income Housing Tax Credit), allows me to attend college full-time. Over the past few years, I have tried to encourage my neighbors to go back to school but none have done so. The sad reality is, many of my neighbors are drug addicts and/or alcoholics; cheap rent enables them to continue the activities which made them homeless in the first place.
California, New York, Hawaii, Vermont and Oregon have the highest rates of homelessness among college students. LIHTC has always had a “student rule” in place to ensure affordable housing is portioned out to the most vulnerable citizens, including the elderly and those with disabilities. According to preferredcompliance.com, these restrictions are “more about providing program benefits to those most in need instead of funds and resources going to students who end up paying little-to-no rent and are adult dependents of wealthy parents.”
That rule is dated from a decades’ old assumption that all students are put through college by their parents. The U.S. government’s assumption that all young adults pursuing higher education are mollycoddled by their families until graduation day needs to go.
When I experienced homelessness in 2015, I was trapped in noisy, women’s shelters for nine months in downtown Portland. Reading a book, or concentrating on anything besides protecting myself from being harassed or robbed, was impossible. I read in coffee shops, shopping malls and parks. The Central Library on SW 10th Avenue is a de facto warehouse for the down and out. I haven’t been back there since a homeless man tried to follow me into the women’s restroom. I would not have been able to focus on classes at that point in my life. And yet, there are no federal programs or initiatives that specifically target homelessness among college students as stated by the Bipartisan Policy Center based in Washington, D.C.
Stable housing is the foundation of students’ success. According to an OPB article on affordable housing for college students published last year, students stressed with housing concerns and a lack of nutritious meals are prone to quitting school. The OPB article also mentions studies have shown housing and food-insecure college students found they were less likely to continue their education and graduate with a degree than peers with stable housing and food sources.
The U.S. is slipping back to its early twentieth-century ethos—a time when pursuing a college degree was only for the lucky spawn of wealthy families. In 2021, PSU opened an emergency shelter called The Landing for housing-insecure students. While that is commendable, so much more needs to change—especially the LIHTC college rule blocking students’ access to low-income housing.
