RIVERSIDE, Calif. — For many college students, their biggest anxiety is paying tuition or getting good grades. But a surprising number also struggle with homelessness. About 14% of community college students are homeless, and 52% are housing insecure, according to a Temple University Hope Center survey.
The Aspire affordable housing development in Riverside aims to help. Located a mile from Riverside City College in a residential area that is walking distance from downtown, The Aspire is intended for homeless young people and foster youth aging out of the foster care system to find stable housing while in school. The project broke ground Tuesday and is expected to be complete in late 2024.
“When there’s a young person who’s just getting ready to take a bite out of the American dream, you have a great opportunity to launch them. That’s what we’re looking at,” said Rochelle Mills, president and chief executive of the nonprofit affordable housing developer and supportive services provider, Innovative Housing Opportunities.
“When you have all the bravado and moxie and arrogance that come with youth, if you can house them and offer services and training, you can really move them into independence,” Mills said. “We call it economic self-reliance. We take these young people and get them while they’re in school and really help launch them and their lives.”
Located at the corner of Fairmount Boulevard and 3rd Street, The Aspire is a 34-unit building — 33 for students and one for a full-time onsite counselor. When complete, Riverside City College will provide educational training and resources for Aspire residents by offering onsite educational wraparound services and programs, including academic counseling, career counseling, financial aid counseling and job placement assistance, Riverside Community College Interim President FeRita Carter told Spectrum News.
According to the National Foster Youth Institute, housing instability makes it more difficult to complete higher education and maintain steady employment. About 25% of former foster youth experience homelessness within four years of being emancipated from the system at age 18, according to the institute. Nationally, 50% of people who experience homelessness spent time in foster care.
“I love this project because it brings us together to serve our transition age youth, it makes our city a prettier place and it brokers partnerships among the city,” Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said, citing the partnership between Innovative Housing Opportunities and Kingdom Development in bringing The Aspire to fruition.
The $25 million development is funded with Housing Authority funds from the City of Riverside, project-based housing choice vouchers from Riverside County and California’s Housing and Community Development/Multifamily Housing Program.
The Aspire is Innovative Housing Opportunities’ first development intended specifically for foster youth transitioning out of the system. Mills said she intends the development to be replicable and scalable.
“If we can show it can be done, and it’s a good business model, others should be able to do it,” she said. “This isn’t something we want to be mine all mine if there’s better ways we can solve the housing crisis.”