Several community college districts are taking steps to provide students with on-campus housing.
Several community college districts are taking steps to provide students with on-campus housing.
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There were many things Abdullah Enes Kut looked forward to about attending college in the Bay Area.
As a Turkish international student from Uganda coming to the South Bay, Kut could immerse himself in a new culture, pursue a higher education in the technology-rich region and live entirely on his own. Kut was even set to move into a nice, reasonably priced apartment near De Anza College in Cupertino, where he would study political science. It was almost too good to be true, he thought.
And it was.
Soon after Kut stepped foot on California soil in 2022, he discovered the rental was a scam. With his first year starting soon, Kut scrambled to find housing — and there was very little the college could do to help.
Despite its status as one of the most popular community college destinations for international students, De Anza has no student housing. To make matters worse, the Cupertino suburb where the college is located has some of the priciest real estate in the Bay Area — the average rent can go for more than $3,000 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. Kut could spare $1,200 at most for housing.
He would eventually secure a Sunnyvale sublet within his budget through Craigslist, but the difficulties of finding a place to live in the region’s unforgiving housing market would leave a lasting impression on him.
“It was a rollercoaster, at best,” the 20-year-old recalled.
But perhaps in the future, community college students like Kut will see their housing options improve.
As rental prices increase in the Bay Area and the region looks to add thousands of affordable new homes by 2030, community college districts — including De Anza’s — are taking steps to provide students with affordable housing. Their initiatives come at a time when state reports reveal roughly half of all community college students are housing insecure, while a quarter are homeless. But difficulties in securing millions in funding for such projects and acquiring land to do so have cut short some colleges’ promises.
Of the 116 community colleges in California, only 12 offer on-campus student housing. None are in the Bay Area, despite the state identifying the region as one of the most housing insecure for students.
The Foothill-De Anza Community College District plans to add 332 affordable beds for students at an existing 94-unit apartment building at 7918 McClellan Road in Cupertino — roughly half a mile away from De Anza’s campus and seven miles away from Foothill College in Los Altos.
The district is funding the purchase and renovations from an $898 million bond measure that was approved in 2020.
Other details — including which students will qualify for housing and how much they will pay for rent — are still being worked out. The colleges hope to rent out the apartments to students this August and September.
Foothill-De Anza, which serves hundreds of students across the South Bay, also attracts many commuter students, a majority of whom face unstable housing, according to the district.
Although it will be months before hundreds of students can call Cupertino home, Kut said the rooms will provide much-needed relief for those who are housing insecure.
“It’s a very forgiving idea,” Kut said. “Thinking of my own experience, it was difficult to come at 18 and figure everything out. … Being housing insecure made me so discouraged about everything else, I had second doubts about my education choices, and almost went back (to Uganda).”
Nearby, the San Mateo Community College District — which encompasses San Mateo, Cañada and Skyline colleges — is set to add a 316-bed student housing project at its San Mateo campus. The $86 million project is expected to be completed in 2027.
In the East Bay, Ohlone College in Fremont is on track to build more than 500 rooms on its Newark campus. Construction is slated to begin this fall, with a move-in target date of January 2028.
But not all colleges that set out on their journey to acquire student housing return with good news.
In 2023, the Peralta Community College District — which consists of four colleges spread across Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda — proposed a $93 million plan to add a new 306-bed dorm on its Alameda campus. The district went as far as to apply for a $52 million state grant in the summer of 2023 under a state housing program that supports the planning and construction of affordable student housing.
However, the district’s proposal was not selected for funding, as 11 other community college districts ranked ahead of their application, according to district spokesperson Mark Johnson. With limits on the available funding, the project was paused, deemed to be “financially out of reach for the district,” Johnson said.
“The fact that this grant process was so highly competitive really highlights the huge demand for affordable student housing across the state,” he said.
Former Laney College student Genie Sullivan, who was unhoused during their time at school and advocated for student housing at Peralta, said they hope the district will still find ways to make student housing a reality.
“If the district is really wanting to contain and retain students, they are going to have to prioritize or seriously figure out housing options,” Sullivan said.
Community colleges tend to cater toward local high school graduates who can commute from their homes, or within the community. However, the demographic of the typical community college is rapidly changing, said Angela Estrada, an advocate with Public Advocates, a California nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization.
Many students these days are considered low-income, come from other countries, juggle multiple jobs, or are older students with families — all of whom are vulnerable to housing insecurity, according to Estrada.
“Society thinks, ‘Oh, community college students are fine, they live at home with parents,’” She said. “But many don’t have that privilege; some of them are parents or are working jobs. They really need access to affordable housing.”
At Peralta, for instance, 80% of its student body qualifies as low-income. Half are renters, with a majority living in apartment complexes or buildings, according to a 2023 district survey. At Ohlone College, 12% of students experience homelessness while 38% face housing insecurity.
Unlike community colleges, four-year institutions already have established systems in place that allow them to acquire, build and fund student housing, according to Sbeydeh Viveros-Walton, director of higher education at Public Advocates.
Community colleges operate with less financial resources but have to catch up just as quickly to meet their students’ demands. The task can be difficult, especially for districts located in expensive real estate areas like Peralta, said Viveros-Walton.
“These are colleges that are located in areas that have some of the highest housing costs in the state, and in the country,” she said. “It’s one of the toughest markets to break into, especially in affordable housing.”
Some financial housing relief has been offered by the state in the form of the 2021 Senate Bill 169, or the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program, a $2 billion plan spread out across three years to support affordable housing for all California college systems.
Half of the money was allocated for community colleges, but with dozens of them vying for grants, only a handful could be selected. The San Mateo District’s housing application was accepted and awarded funding under the program; Peralta’s, however, was not.
Despite the difficulties associated with acquiring housing, De Anza student Andrew Siegler said the end result will benefit many students’ academic and mental well-being. When Siegler took courses at De Anza in 2021, a harsh 0.00 marked his transcript.
Siegler wasn’t trying to fail his courses, but life was making it difficult for him to prioritize school. The 45-year-old was homeless, and living in and out of shelters around San Jose. He only joined De Anza after hearing about the college’s discounted VTA bus passes for students, which would allow him an affordable round trip to and from campus. Siegler had signed up for classes, only to drop out or fail them as the stress of working and finding housing consumed him.
But then came his lucky break. In 2022, he was able to get housing in downtown San Jose. With a steady roof over his head, Siegler could better focus on his studies as a political science major. Now, Siegler is set to graduate De Anza this June.
His current GPA? A 3.75.
“Having housing is going to make a whole difference for those students,” Siegler said. “It’s literally the only thing in my life that changed — and it made all the difference in the world.”