Bill aiming to help homeless college students moves forward

A bill that would require community colleges to provide overnight parking for homeless students moved forward at the Capitol today.

Assembly Bill 302 states community colleges with on campus parking facilities would have to provide overnight parking for eligible homeless students living out of their car.

Cabrillo College students told KION it’s a bigger issue than most realize. “I have several friends that live out of their vehicles you know vans, trailers, trucks, it’s a lot more common than I think people are aware of,” said Ben.

According to a study released by the Hope Center for College, 19% of the 40,000 students surveyed reported being homeless within the last year.

Assembly member Marc Berman, who introduced the bill, said if you put that in relation to the 2.1 million community college students in California, “that means that barely less than 400,000 students statewide have experienced homelessness in the last year.”

The bill text reads that students who want to use the facility would have to be enrolled in coursework, paid enrollment fees, if not waived; and is in good standings with the Community College District (CCD).

The schools would also be required to provide bathrooms that are near the overnight parking facility, set rules for the facility and have a monitoring system with hours of operation.

Foothill College student Matthew Bodo, who spoke at the Capitol today, said he was homeless while going to school and working full-time. The biggest issue he had was finding a safe place to park overnight. “I resorted to sleeping nearby off campus, which was not received well by the residents of the area because it is not only illegal, but the residents did not take kindly to it. They did things like vandalize my car, which is a very big deal to me.”

The Assembly of Higher Education voted to move forward with the bill Tuesday afternoon, it will now move on to the appropriations committee.