California schools can turn student homelessness into housing

Malik’s life shifted after Santa Monica built Berkeley Station, a modular housing development designed for young people connected to supportive services and local schools. His experience mirrors data showing student homelessness in Los Angeles County has risen

The morning Malik finally put his feet down in a permanent home didn’t just change where he slept. It changed what school could mean for him.

For years, the Santa Monica public school system carried him through a reality that never stayed still. Malik experienced homelessness since elementary school, moving often between shelters. When shelter space was unavailable. his family didn’t just relocate to a different bed—they toggled between Skid Row. the beach. and their family car.

Recently, now a high school graduate, a Santa Monica College student, and a young father, Malik’s life took an unexpected turn. He was able to move into a stable home, something he describes as nearly unimaginable after so much instability.

That stability became possible through a partnership between the City of Santa Monica, Community Corporation of Santa Monica, and St. Joseph Center’s Youth Resource Team. The city’s new Berkeley Station modular housing development was designed specifically for young people connected to supportive services and Santa Monica schools.

Malik’s story fits a pattern emerging across California—one that links housing and education so tightly it becomes hard to separate them. New data from UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools shows student homelessness in Los Angeles County rose nearly 30% between 2022–23 and 2023–24. outpacing both state and national increases. More than 61,000 students across Los Angeles County experienced homelessness last year alone.

The driver is familiar, and it keeps getting worse: housing affordability has collapsed for many families, rents have risen, and pandemic-era protections have expired.

The McKinney-Vento Act acknowledges what educators see in the day-to-day: housing stability and educational success are deeply connected. Still. for thousands of California students. housing instability continues to disrupt attendance. learning. and access to teachers. counselors. and support systems that academic progress depends on.

There’s a second pressure point, too—one that reaches beyond individual students and lands directly on school budgets. California public school enrollment has declined by more than 300. 000 students since 2019. leaving districts with billions of dollars in lost average daily attendance funding statewide. As families are pushed out by rising housing costs. districts face enrollment-driven fiscal challenges that make it harder to maintain staffing and services.

But crisis can also open a door. California school districts collectively own roughly 150,000 acres of public land statewide, much of it tied to campuses facing enrollment decline and changing space needs.

In the telling of Malik’s transition from shelter life to permanent housing, the promise is clear: these twin pressures—housing affordability and enrollment decline—create an opportunity for districts, municipal partners, and communities to rethink what school land can do.

Instead of treating underused properties only as educational infrastructure, districts could treat them as community infrastructure. The proposed approach is to partner with affordable housing groups. local governments. and service organizations to transform underutilized school properties into affordable housing for working families. transition-age youth. and families experiencing homelessness.

The plan also comes with a key operational detail: school districts would not be responsible for operating or managing these housing communities. That responsibility would stay with experienced affordable housing developers and service providers. as it does in successful school-housing partnerships across California.

The impact isn’t limited to shelter beds. Stable housing improves attendance, academic performance, and student well-being. And for districts confronting enrollment declines. affordable housing can help retain current students. attract new families. and strengthen the enrollment base that sustains school funding.

This idea arrives as California has already committed major resources to housing and homelessness. California voters approved billions in housing and homelessness funding through Proposition 1 and the state’s Homekey+ program. In Los Angeles County. the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) was created to accelerate affordable housing production at scale.

Local leaders are now being urged to align those investments with underutilized school land—creating affordable housing that stabilizes youth and their families while keeping students connected to the school communities that shape their lives.

The model is already showing up in places where the need is most immediate. LAUSD’s Selma Community Housing demonstrates how school-connected land can support working families in high-cost neighborhoods. In Hayward. Covenant House California partnered with local leaders. the Alameda County Office of Education. and Hayward Unified School District to create housing and supportive services for transition-age youth experiencing homelessness.

Lawmakers are also moving toward the same recognition that educators and service providers have lived with for years. Legislation such as AB 2295. authored by former Assemblymember Richard Bloom. and AB 2480. recently authored by Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías. recognizes the growing connection between housing affordability and educational opportunity.

Today, housing stability and educational success are described as inseparable. If the goal is improving educational outcomes, the argument goes, schools can’t tackle student achievement while leaving housing instability untouched.

For Malik. the outcome is personal and immediate: his life shifted from moving between shelters and places he could reach to staying somewhere he can actually build a future. For the state’s schools, the stakes are larger than one graduation cap or one semester at Santa Monica College. The question now is whether California can use the land it already holds—and the partnerships it already knows how to build—to ensure children don’t have to choose between having a home and remaining connected to the schools that follow them year after year.

Ryan J. Smith, Ed.D., is the president and CEO of the St. Joseph Center, one of LA County’s largest homelessness and housing organizations.

Erika Hartman is the CEO of Safe Place For Youth, a nonprofit working to prevent and end youth homelessness.

student homelessness California schools Santa Monica Berkeley Station Santa Monica College UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools McKinney-Vento Act enrollment decline school funding affordable housing Homekey+ Proposition 1 LACAHSA AB 2295 AB 2480