A bill that would require community colleges to grant overnight access to parking facilities for homeless students passed an Assembly committee last week and was referred to an appropriations committee.
Assembly Bill 302 directly addresses findings from a recent report that nearly 1 in 5 community college students experienced homelessness in the past year.
“The reality is that students are sleeping in their vehicles right now, and when we don’t provide a safe place for them to sleep, we force them into the shadows — into dark alleys and industrial parks — where they are most vulnerable,” said Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto). “We can no longer pretend that community college student homelessness isn’t a crisis — we have the data that clearly says it is. Shame on us if we turn our backs on these students and choose to ignore them.”