Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto) has introduced AB-302 to the state Assembly which would allow homeless students to sleep in their cars in the school parking lots during the school year.
Berman, in a press release, has explained his rationale behind the bill.
“Over the last two years, I’ve heard from too many students that they don’t have stable housing and often end up sleeping in their cars. Unfortunately, this is all too common throughout California, with one in four community college students experiencing homelessness,” said Berman.
“The long term solution is to build more housing, but while we work to make that a reality, AB 302 is a step that we can take now to ensure that homeless students have a safe place to sleep at night.”
This bill is still in committee, and if it passes, it would require schools to allow homeless students to use the parking facilities as long they are in good standing with the school, fully enrolled and have all their fees paid.
Mike Munoz, the vice president of Student Support Services, pointed out that the school administration does not take a stance on legislation that has not been passed, but he did give some details about the steps that would be taken if it did pass.
“If it is signed into law, typically they give you a certain amount of time to develop an implementation plan, and I imagine that as a college we would follow our standard steps,” Munoz said.
“It would be that a group convened to basically determine an implementation plan of AB-302. And part of that would be to engage specific stakeholders on campus, from safety to facility, the health center, psychological services and our counseling, a cross constituency of folks would come together, and read the legislation, and determine the plan of action. There would be a transitional period to enact the implementation plan.”
No studies have been done at LBCC about the number of students that are housing insecure, but a study was done by assistant professor Rashida Crutchfield for Cal State Long Beach, and she found that at CSULB that 1 in 10 students that are enrolled face challenges in their housing situation.
If that metric were to be applied for LBCC, that would be a total of approximately 2,400 housing insecure students.
Residents in the neighborhood recognize the compassionate nature of the bill, but are also willing to point out some concerns that they have.
Jeannine Brand, a nearby homeowner shared those concerns.
“Well, the two biggest problems facing the country right now is homelessness and opioid epidemic. Of course, this would help people that are homeless, but I’m concerned that it could increase the opioid issue in the neighborhood,” Brand said.
Lt. Omar Martinez also pointed out that there can be security concerns when dealing with large groups of people in a confined area.
“Not to say that all homeless people are criminals, of course not, but when you bring people together, you can get fights, you can get drug use, you can get drinking,” Martinez said
“All those things that you get when you bring people together, you can get it in a concentrated form becauses there is no buildings in between them, no doors to lock, and they’re basically out in the open.”
Martinez also pointed out that his role as the head of public safety would extend to the students in their cars if the law were passed.
He confirmed that at this time, there is only one officer on duty at night for both campuses, but if needed, he would have no problem bringing in extra manpower to ensure the safety of everyone involved.