Students face eviction at Fresno City College after housing plan cut, despite new money

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Some Fresno City College students face eviction from housing subsidized by a program that the college says has run out of cash but that the state says could be saved with a new grant.

While reporting the story, The Fresno Bee learned that a $620,976 state grant was available to FCC and informed city college officials. FCC denied the existence of the award to The Bee twice, even after being told the exact amount.

In email exchanges, FCC said their staff was in touch with the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and that there was no new award. FCC then asked where The Bee got the information and how to confirm it.

Several hours later, FCC acknowledged the award was indeed available, but the college’s spokesperson said the next day that FCC still intended to discontinue the program and have not decided whether the college wants to claim the money.

“The pilot grant funding ended,” Cris Monahan Bremer, FCC communications director, replied to The Bee’s inquiries about the decision-making process. “We have not been officially notified, awarded, or received new funding from the state, we are still confirming that information.”

FCC would not answer questions about why it has decided to close the program, despite the availability of some new state money.

FCC student Jalyssa Jenkins-McGill, 36, said an email from FCC about eviction was only recently delivered, not leaving much time to find alternative housing.

“It’s just two months from when you find out it’s not right,” said Jenkins-McGill, who has been battling mental health issues. She said she’s unsure where she will be able to go and how she could maintain the counseling services when the August deadline comes.

“It gave me all the resources that I needed; it gave me a support system,” said Jenkins-McGill, “What kind of housing can you really find in two months other than a temporary shelter?”

The Housing Opportunities Promote Education (HOPE) program at FCC provides rental subsidies and move-in deposits for students experiencing housing insecurity. Students also receive academic, mental health, career, and budgeting counseling through in-house staff and contracted services. The goal is to help students become desirable tenants and move forward to permanent housing.

Jenkins-McGill said the program kept her and her two children off the street. She was living in a rehabilitation facility and had no idea about her future. A counselor made her aware of the college options and the resources from HOPE. The family moved into a one-bedroom apartment in November 2023. For up to 12 months, Jenkins-McGill would have a stable place to live, to raise her children, to build a credit history, and to prepare for her next steps.

Jenkins-McGill and other HOPE students were notified on June 26 that they would need to vacate from the apartments by August 31 due to the program’s funding shortfall. The email encouraged students to seek housing placement directly with other organizations.

HOPE was established in 2020 through a state pilot grant to address college student homelessness. A 2019 state-wide study found that 70% of community college students experienced housing or food insecurity.

FCC received a total of $3.73 million for HOPE and housed 350 students during its implementation, and it was seen as the largest and most successful college homelessness support program in California, said Natalie Chavez, who formerly coordinated the program and was laid off at the end of June due to the program’s lack of funding.

At its peak, Chavez said, the program accommodated more than 150 students but had only three part-time staff members. There was no institutional investment, and the college leadership never spoke with the staff despite Chavez’s constant appeals for resources. Staff worked overtime to operate the program which didn’t even have an office on campus. It was the mismanagement and negligence of the leadership instead of the funding shortfall that killed the program, she said.

FCC President Robert Pimentel said the college foresaw the funding exhaustion and downsized the program this year. Currently, about 50 students are receiving rental subsidies, and at least half of them have leases that run beyond Aug. 31, 2024.

“HOPE has almost no staff left and the students remaining are scrambling,” said Chavez. “It is so unfortunate and it did not need to happen this way.”

The state chancellor’s office had notified the 14 community colleges participating in the pilot program, including FCC, on June 26 that a new round of funding will be allocated for the 2024-25 academic year, according to the notification email shared with The Bee.

FCC said the pilot program is ending and they are working with students on housing alternatives. But the best it can offer is emergency shelter, said the students.

Jenkins-McGill’s lease was supposed to run through November. She now pays 30% of the rent of $458, utilities are included. Staying on the lease is not an option because she can’t afford the market price without the rental subsidy.

It’s very abrupt, she said, a lot of students need mental health or behavioral health support and they are not ready to lose all the resources so soon. Shelters are not for everyone, she added, some shelters don’t allow children; some are only for women; and some have time limits or curfews but some people need to work overnight.

“It’s sad, this program gave you a chance to put your best foot forward and all of a sudden someone decides they’re going to pull funding for whatever reason,” she said. “And we’re not allowed to know what the reason is.”