Advertisement UC Davis students facing homelessness eligible for new housing grant

Students are getting ready to start the fall quarter at UC Davis.>> Download the KCRA 3 appOn Saturday, many pushed bins full of dorm room supplies into their residence halls. As some began unpacking their things, others are hoping state money will help them avoid homelessness.In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom put aside $3.5 million of the state’s budget to help college students on the 10 University of California campuses.Among those students is Dilan Robles, a freshman at UC Davis who says he plans to study civil engineering. “I want to be a construction manager and buy old houses for low-income families,” he said while sitting near the quad.Robles knows how tough it can be for low-income families to buy houses. The incoming freshman from south central Los Angeles is homeless.“I lived in a factory for two years when I came from Mexico,” Robles said. “It was pretty tough, to be honest.”Robles just finished a six-week on-campus program as part of the Special Transitional Enrichment Program, known as STEP. The program helps students transition into college.He was provided housing during that time, but the program ended the week before school started. Robles needed a place to live.“In the gap between the STEP and the start of the academic year, I received help from the Aggie Compass,” he said. “They provided me meal cards and housing in the residential halls.”The Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center provides students, specifically those with financial struggles, with food, housing and resources.The goal: “To help them eat and help them to not be hungry and to have some basic security while they’re here,” said Leslie Kemp, director of the Aggie Compass.UC Davis is getting $350,000 of the $3.5 million earmarked for rapid rehousing programs in the budget.“All of this is to help the students, homeless students, to transition into more permanent housing,” Kemp said. “Students who are in imminent danger of losing their housing can remain secure or transition into secure housing.”For some students, including Robles, access to those programs and grants makes getting a college degree a reality.“Like me, there might be students in college already that might need help finding food or they’re low-income,” he said. “It might be helpful to them to find those kinds of resources.”Students can apply for the rapid rehousing grants this quarter. The money will be allocated to students in November.