When Rashida Crutchfield began her doctoral degree at Cal State Long Beach in 2009, she knew she wanted to study the college experience for homeless students. There was one problem. She couldn’t find any research about college homelessness. “The imposter syndrome in me thought I was just doing it wrong,” said Crutchfield, now a professor at CSULB’s School of Social Work. So Crutchfield contacted Barbara Duffield, a leading advocate for children experiencing homelessness in the K-12 school system. “I said, ‘I’m not finding anything about the college experience for students,’” Crutchfield recalled. She said, ‘There isn’t anything. That’s your job now.’” That job has kept Crutchfield busy ever since. Her 2018 research finding that nearly 11% of California State University students experienced homelessness coincided with an emerging consensus among California lawmakers and higher education leaders that housing and food insecurity can be a major barrier for would-be college graduates. Together with her colleagues at CSULB’s Center for Equitable Higher Education, the research arm of the university’s basic needs program, Crutchfield has also assessed how well college programs intended to help meet students’ basic needs are working. One such program is College Focused Rapid Rehousing, launched in 2020 at selected community colleges and California State University campuses, including CSULB. Backed by tens of millions of dollars in state funding, the aim of the pilot is to help students complete college by first moving them into stable housing, taking a more intensive approach than emergency housing vouchers and other short-term help. In…
