Housing
The following questions were asked in regard to students’ current and past housing situations. This includes changes due to COVID, if they are living near their college (with most schools being remote at the time of the survey), the type of home they currently live in, and hardships that they faced in the past year with housing.
COVID Housing Impact
Has your housing situation changed due to COVID-19? (n=129, 89% of 145 reporting).
Figure 4.1: Impact of COVID on Housing
There are 81 people that participated in the survey that claim their housing has not changed due to the impacts of COVID. There also are 48 people that say their housing situation did change due to the impacts of COVID.
Living Near College
Are you currently living in the city/area in which you are enrolled in college? (n=133, 92% of 145 reporting).
Figure 4.2: Living Near Enrolled College
There are 59 people that participated in the survey that do not currently live in the city/area of their enrolled college. There also are 74 people that say they do live in the city/area of their enrolled college.
Current Housing Situation
Which best describes your current housing situation?| Current Housing Situation | Yes (%) |
|---|---|
| I rent an apartment or house with roommates | 50/132 (37.9%) |
| I live with parents or other relatives, not paying rent with my own money | 32/132 (24.2%) |
| I live with parents or other relatives, paying rent with my own money | 22/132 (16.7%) |
| I rent an apartment or house without roommates | 11/132 (8.3%) |
| I am temporarily living with friends or relatives, without permanent housing (couch surfing) | 4/132 (3.0%) |
| I own my own home | 4/132 (3.0%) |
| Other | 3/132 (2.3%) |
| I am currently living at an outdoor location, abandoned building, car, or other area not meant for regular housing, without permanent housing | 2/132 (1.5%) |
| I live in university housing or residence halls | 2/132 (1.5%) |
| I live in a sorority or fraternity house | 1/132 (0.8%) |
| I live in transitional housing or a halfway home | 1/132 (0.8%) |
In the past 12 months…
The following were asked as a series of Yes/No questions to help better understand the living situations of participating students.| Yes (%) | |
|---|---|
| Was there a rent or mortgage increase that made it difficult to pay (n = 127)? | 51 (40.2%) |
| Have you been unable to pay or underpaid a utility bill (n = 124)? | 46 (37.1%) |
| Have you been unable to pay or underpaid your rent or mortgage (n = 119)? | 36 (30.3%) |
| Have you ever been late paying rent or mortgage (n = 124)? | 36 (29.0%) |
| Have you lived with others beyond the expected capacity of your house or apartment (n = 121)? | 25 (20.7%) |
| Have you had to stay in a hostile housing environment or abusive relationship because you had no other place to live (n = 126)? | 14 (11.1%) |
| Have you been asked to leave your home by someone you lived with (n = 130)? | 8 (6.2%) |
| Have you been evicted (n = 131)? | 1 (0.8%) |
The following were asked as frequency questions to help better
understand the living situations of participating students.
Figure 4.3: Unsure of Sleeping and Times Moved
Over the past 12 months, the majority of people were never unsure of where they would be sleeping (107 people) or have not moved housing (64 people). Responses claiming sleep location uncertainty were closely distributed among the frequency options. There were 41 people have claimed they moved once in the last 12 months and 16 people have moved twice. Only a small minority have moved 3 or more times in the last 12 months.
Sleeping Places
In the last 30 days, or in the past 12 months, have you slept
in any of the following places?
Note: students were only allowed to choose either “last 30 days” or
“past 12 months”, so students who selected past 12 months are
interpreted as “over 30 days but less than 1 year”.
Stable
| Last 30 days | Last 12 months | |
|---|---|---|
| In a rented or owned house, mobile home, or apartment (alone or with roommates or friends) | 26/131 (19.8%) | 63/131 (48.1%) |
| In a rented or owned house, mobile home, or apartment with my family (parent, guardian, relative or caretaker) | 37/131 (28.2%) | 34/131 (26.0%) |
| Campus or University Housing | 1/131 (0.8%) | 7/131 (5.3%) |
| Sorority/Fraternity house | 0/131 (0.0%) | 1/131 (0.8%) |
Unstable
| Last 30 days | Last 12 months | |
|---|---|---|
| Temporarily staying with a relative, friend or couch surfing until I find other housing | 1/131 (0.8%) | 13/131 (9.9%) |
| In a car, truck, van, RV or camper | 3/131 (2.3%) | 5/131 (3.8%) |
| Temporarily at a hotel or motel without a permanent home to return to (not on vacation or business travel) | 1/131 (0.8%) | 1/131 (0.8%) |
| At a shelter | 0/131 (0.0%) | 0/131 (0.0%) |
| In a transitional housing or independent living program | 0/131 (0.0%) | 0/131 (0.0%) |
| At a group home such as halfway house or residential program for mental health or substance abuse | 0/131 (0.0%) | 0/131 (0.0%) |
| Outdoor location such as street, sidewalk, alley, park, etc. | 1/131 (0.8%) | 0/131 (0.0%) |
| In a closed area/space with a roof not meant for human habitation such as an abandoned building, garage, tent, etc. | 0/131 (0.0%) | 0/131 (0.0%) |
Unstable Housing
In the past 12 months, if you have experienced unstable
housing, what was the most common reason? (n=49, 34% of 145
reporting).
Figure 4.4: Unstable Housing Identification
The data shows that of the people who experienced unstable housing, the most common cause was not having enough money to cover housing expenses (21 people). The next most common cause was from issues with roommates, both having conflicts (7 people) and them being unable/unwilling to pay living expenses (9 people).
Housing Insecure & Homeless
- Students with at least 3 housing insecurity indicators present are housing insecure, while those with 2 or fewer are not considered housing insecure (n=117, 81% of 145 reporting).
- Students with at least 1 homelessness insecurity indicator present are considered to have experience homelessness at date of survey (n=131, 90% of 145 reporting).
| Unstable Housing Type | Yes (%) |
|---|---|
| Housing Insecure | 30.8% |
| Homeless (year) | 15.3% |
| Homeless (month) | 2.3% |
The data indicates that the majority of students are not considered to be housing insecure (81 students, 69.2%), while the remaining students could be classified as housing insecure based on their indicators (36 students, 30.8%).
The data indicates that the majority of students did not experience homelessness in either the past month (128 students, 97.7%) or year (111 students, 84.7%).
