Too busy to help California created liaisons for homeless students—and set them up to fail by Margherita Beale
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Brett Sawyer wears at least two hats at between 40 and 50 homeless students. It’s American River College. difficult to know how many found housing Not only is he the community college’s because, while some students keep in touch, student life supervisor, but two years ago others virtually disappear, Sawyer said. Sawyer was asked to serve as the homeless Shahera Hyatt, director of the California youth liaison. It’s a role he takes seriously, but Youth Homeless Project, said she and her one that doesn’t come with additional time or family experienced homelessness throughout resources to help the high number of students her school career, extending into her own time who lack a stable living situation. at American River College. “It’s just hard with the other responsibilities There was no homeless liaison then, and that we all have,” Sawyer said. “But we ultiresources for students facing homelessness were mately, we want to serve our students, so you scarce or insufficiently promoted, she said. pretty much stop what you’re doing and help Hyatt says the landscape has improved quite that student the best you can.” a bit since then, but homeless liaisons still face Sawyer isn’t alone. a host of other issues, primarily stemming from In April, the California Youth Homeless a lack of funding for a part-time position. Project and the ACLU Foundation of “Many of the people that are California released two surveys doing this work on our colleges “You of the state’s public K-12 are working two or three schools and community jobs,” Hyatt said. “Over pretty much colleges that found that 60% reported spending stop what you’re homeless liaisons “are not only zero to five hours given the capacity, funda week doing that job. doing and help that ing, training, and other When you look at how student the best you resources to do their jobs many homeless students effectively.” there are, you know can.” According to the they could not possibly survey, 82% of liaisons be doing their job as Brett Sawyer said the type of support effectively as they would homeless youth liaison, they were least able to like to.” American River College provide was the thing their Though the state requires students needed most—housing. colleges to identify homeless In California, about 20% of all liaisons, it does not allocate funding community college students experienced home- to hire them, so most campuses assign liaison lessness in the last year, while 60% reported duties to employees with existing workloads. being “housing insecure” in the previous year, Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of according to a survey of 40,000 students at 57 the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End community colleges from nonprofit group The Homelessness, said one way to help overHope Center. worked homeless liaisons would be if the state In 2016, then-Gov. Jerry Brown approved provided funding, which was the survey’s chief Assembly Bill 801, also known as the Success recommendation. for Homeless Youth in Higher Education Act, “Ideally, we would increase the funding which required community colleges and the pretty dramatically for homeless liaisons and California State University system to identify have that be a dedicated position,” Erlenbusch liaisons to support homeless students and said. “Not one person wearing three hats.” former foster youth. Sawyer favors a similar solution. But ineffective outreach, a lack of resources “I hope some funding can go toward either and the fact that liaisons often juggle multiple more resources for homelessness or eventually roles have exacerbated the challenges of reachhiring someone who has that as part of their ing California’s most vulnerable students. main job duties,” he said. □ In his two years as homeless liaison, Sawyer says the group he supervises totaled
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