Scholar Studios: housing for homeless college students

Affordable housing and homelessness

Central LA East LA South LA San Gabriel Valley West LA San Fernando Valley Gateway Cities South Bay Long Beach Antelope Valley County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit) City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit)

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

Community college is one of the last affordable pathways to higher education in LA County, yet it lacks a critical support: housing. Most community colleges don’t offer dorms, and students receive less federal aid than university students due to assumptions that they can live at home. But for many low-income students ages 18–26, "home" means unstable or unsafe environments—overcrowding, family addiction, or abuse—that make studying nearly impossible. These students want to move out, but face systemic barriers: unaffordable rents, no credit history, no co-signer, no prior rental experience, and limited income. As LA’s housing crisis deepens, our students are increasingly forced to choose between education and survival. Without stable housing, many drop out, delaying their degrees and futures. We must act now to prevent the cycle of poverty and housing instability from derailing educational opportunities for LA’s most vulnerable college students.

Education is Forever (EiF) will expand its proven scholarship and case management program by adding a critical component: stable housing for community college students experiencing homelessness. EiF currently serves youth in alternative school settings—continuation schools, YouthBuild, Conservation Corps, and JobCorps—offering $1,000 scholarships and support through their first year of college. In 2023, 100% of EiF students persisted through their first year of college, compared to less than 20% of peers from similar high schools.
With LA2050 funding, EiF will identify scholarship recipients who are unstably housed and support them through the full 2-year community college journey. EiF will co-sign leases, cover rent while students maintain a 2.5 GPA and full-time enrollment, and provide ongoing case management to ensure academic and personal stability. Upon graduation or university transfer, students will assume their leases—ensuring a seamless transition into independent housing.
Unlike past housing programs that forced students to relocate repeatedly, our approach centers long-term stability and trust. By eliminating the instability of constant moves and treating housing as a tool for empowerment, we’re giving students a chance to succeed in college—and life.

If successful, our program will show that solving student homelessness doesn’t require massive construction projects—it requires trust, strategy, and partnerships. In the short term (Oct 2025–Oct 2026), students from under-resourced communities will earn degrees while living in stable, supported housing. In the long term, these same students will become tenants, graduates, and contributors to LA’s economy—breaking cycles of poverty and displacement.
This model supports both students and small landlords, creates new pathways to affordable housing, and plants seeds for generational change. Education will no longer require leaving one’s community or surviving impossible odds—it will be a bridge to opportunity and independence. As we scale, this program can be replicated across the county, proving that when we invest in young people, we invest in a stronger, more equitable Los Angeles.