"In the fall of 2021, Emma Johnson was ready to move into her new apartment and begin her senior year at UC San Diego. The school guarantees campus dorms for students' first two years, but most juniors and seniors live off campus. When Johnson opened the door to her apartment, she found 2 inches of water inside. She and her roommates didn't have renters insurance, and the landlord declared he'd have to gut the unit."
"One by one, Johnson's roommates found friends to crash with or leased new apartments with their parents as cosigners. But Johnson, who paid for school and her living expenses with a Pell Grant - federal funding granted to students with exceptional financial need that does not need to be repaid - and federal loans, suddenly found herself homeless. Her loans provided enough money to pay rent, but without a steady flow of income, Johnson received rejection after rejection on her apartment applications. That's when she moved into her car for two months, spending the night camped in parking lots of retail stores or public parks around the university's campus."
""I wasn't able to get an apartment because the landlords in San Diego weren't impressed with my rental application, which I don't blame them," Johnson said. "I had basically no rental history and no cosigner.""
Emma Johnson arrived at her new apartment in fall 2021 and found water damage that rendered the unit uninhabitable. Her roommates secured alternate housing, but Johnson, reliant on a Pell Grant and federal loans without a cosigner or rental history, became homeless and lived in her car for two months. Landlords repeatedly rejected her applications due to lack of steady income and rental history. State data show widespread student homelessness: 24% of community college students, 11% at California State University campuses, and 8% in the University of California system. Assembly Bill 90 aims to address student homelessness at public colleges.
Read at SFGATE
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