Hope Housing for Students helps provide stable environment for California community college students

Hope Housing for Students helps provide stable environment for California community college students 

PASADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- It is estimated that one in five students in California community colleges are homeless.

Many are students like Tiffany Chalberg, who are trying to get an education while wondering where they will sleep at night.

"I was trying to go to school and I was like, 'This is way too much for me to be staying in my car, worrying about where I'm going to be and park all night and then check my laptop and go to school and do everything that I could,'" said Chalberg, who is now a student at Pasadena City College.

Hope Housing for Students is trying to help.

"The problem is definitely bigger than we know," said Mel Tillekeratne, the executive director of End Homelessness California.

Hope Housing is an interim housing program for community college students experiencing homelessness or housing instability.

Having launched in August 2020, the program has expanded and is available to all nine Los Angeles Community College District campuses.

In addition to homes leased around the Los Angeles area, the campus of Maryvale in Rosemead provides stabile housing for students, allowing them to focus on earning a degree.

"We create a buffer, where without them falling into more problems, we give them a safe place but we also give them the education and the guidance to be self-sufficient," said Tillekeratne.

Students have internet access and academic support as well as case management and mental health services. Food is also provided so they can learn how to cook themselves and prepare for life on their own after school.

"I feel more empowered because I know that everybody else there has been through something similar and it just feels like we're basically thriving together," said Chalberg.

Tillekeratne said though the housing portion is critical to a student's success, life skills also play a big role.

"When they leave us, there's no doubt that they're going to be successful," she said.

Almost 90% of credits attempted were passed through the first three semesters of the program, while the average GPA for program participants jumped from 2.4 to 2.8.