ELAC Rooftop Student Housing Pilot, Last Mile Fund

Affordable housing and homelessness

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) faces a housing crisis that threatens student success: 67% of its students experience housing insecurity - an increase of 12% since 2016 (shorturl.at/E4vrk). Serving a student body that is 80% from underserved backgrounds, nearly half of whom are first-generation college students, LACCD enrolls three times as many Latino students and nearly four times as many Black students as all University of California campuses combined. Without stable housing, students cannot thrive, leading to dropout, financial distress, andinequality. This pilot project directly tackles systemic barriers by embedding housing within the academic environment. To address this urgent need, we are launching a first-of-its-kind pilot at East Los Angeles College (ELAC), the largest community college in the state, transforming a campus rooftop into supportive student housing. This project aligns with LA2050’s vision by directly investing in long-term opportunity.

This grant will support the final phase of a collaborative student-led initiative between ELAC, Gensler, DignityMoves, and Jovenes to address the urgent need for student housing across LACCD. The ELAC Rooftop Student Housing Pilot will convert an underutilized parking garage rooftop into 125 beds of interim and permanent supportive housing, with wraparound services provided by Jovenes. Designed specifically for housing-insecure students, including LGBTQ+ and first-generation learners, the project models a new way to meet urgent housing needs: leveraging existing public infrastructure at a fraction of the typical cost and time. With over 40 similar rooftops in LA County, this pilot can unlock thousands of new beds across the region. This “last mile” grant ensures the first site sets a policy-shifting precedent: demonstrating that community colleges can be platforms for equity and housing justice. If scaled, this model could help Los Angeles lead the nation in ending student homelessness through infrastructure reuse, affordability, and student-centered design.
The “last mile” fund will provide critical flexibility to complete the project with care, covering beautification, greenery, furniture, and finishing touches that ensure the housing feels like home.

Success will be defined by both completion of the 125 beds and the lived experience of students: measured by housing stability, service engagement, and student retention rates. We’ll also track lessons learned for future rooftop conversions. Our model draws from DignityMoves' and Gensler’s proven history of delivering housing on time, on budget, and with intention.
Additionally, the ELAC pilot will show that we can create safe, supportive housing on college campuses at one-third the cost and in half the time of traditional development.