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Higher education administrators in the United States are becoming increasingly aware of the need to address student basic needs insecurity, yet many find particular difficulty in addressing the specific needs of college students experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. In 2023, the Community College League of California found that 47% of California Community College (CCC) students reported food insecurity, 58% reported housing insecurity, and 24% experienced homelessness. At Rio Hondo College (RHC), located in Whittier, California, 46.9% of RHC students reported food insecurity, 55.5% reported housing insecurity, and 20.9% identified as experiencing homelessness. 

In 2018 Rio Hondo College launched the HOPE Scholars Program to provide holistic support for students who are transitionally unhoused or experiencing homelessness, offering food and housing relief alongside financial, psychosocial, emotional, and academic support. To assess these efforts, CEHE researched this innovative program to gain deeper insight of the experiences of students served by HOPE Scholars, examining program implementation and its influence on students’ education, mental, physical, and financial well-being.

Key findings highlight HOPE Scholars accessibility and proactive and student-centered engagement. These findings point to the importance of having food and housing security for college students and how access to campus resources play an important role in the academic experience.

Read the full report Rio Hondo College HOPE Scholars Assessment - Final Report 8/19/2025 (PDF) to explore the findings and recommendations.

Housing is now the largest expense for students in California’s public higher education . A 2023 survey by the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) found that 53% of students across all California higher education systems experience housing insecurity. This includes just over a quarter of UC students, over half of CSU students, and nearly two-thirds of CCC students. Housing insecurity is especially prevalent among students with children, those over 24, and students who identify as Black, Latinx, or .  In response to this urgent need, the Governor and State Legislature launched the Higher Education Student Housing Grant (HESHG) program in 2021, using a budget surplus to fund affordable student housing across UC, CSU, and CCC campuses.

To further address the crisis, the , the , and the  partnered to develop a student-centered affordable housing legislative agenda. The Center for Equitable Higher Education (CEHE) at CSU Long Beach collaborated with these organizations to explore the state’s housing efforts and highlight student leader priorities.

Click the below link to read the project brief, which outlines key findings and offers recommendations for centering students in California’s affordable housing strategies.

 Student-Centered Affordable Housing in California: Perspectives of California Student Leaders - Brief

As the largest public four-year higher education system in the country that educates almost 460,000 students a year, the CSU is a focal point of basic needs program development and implementation. In 2016, the CSU Basic Need Initiative began to develop infrastructure for coordinated efforts across its 23 campuses. Between 2016 and 2020, all campuses developed a variety of models to support food and housing security; however, the details and broad effectiveness of these approaches remains unexamined. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 had a dramatic impact on the CSU campuses, students, and basic needs services. This study, funded by the , conducted in the midst of the emerging pandemic, examined data from four campuses, exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic affected students’ basic needs for housing and food supports, and how the interruption of campus basic needs services affected students’ well-being when campuses closed. The findings and recommendations informed basic need practice to support and strengthen basic needs infrastructure and services across public higher education in California.

Lessons Learned: Basic Need Programs During the Time of COVID-19 Findings Report 

From 2015-2019, CEHE led the first and only comprehensive assessment of student basic needs in the CSU. In 2015, then California State University Chancellor Timothy White commissioned a three-phase study of CSU Student Basic Needs to shed light on understanding these social issues to explore how CSU students were experiencing food and housing insecurity, how campuses were meeting the needs, and offer recommendations to ensure student success. Phase 1 of the study explored the perspectives of staff, faculty, and administrators on the issues and provided preliminary student data. Phase 2 provided data from across all 23 campuses and explored experiences of students with homelessness and food insecurity. Phase 3 provided in-depth insight on the supports and barriers CSU students encountered to mitigate their basic need insecurities.