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A STUDENT’S VIEW - Los Angeles doesn’t have a housing problem. It has a reality problem.
In one year, student homelessness in Los Angeles County exploded by more than 28%. Today, over 60,000 students in our public schools are experiencing homelessness. Not in theory. Not buried in a report. In real life sleeping in cars, doubling up in overcrowded apartments, moving from couch to couch, or worse.
And still, this crisis is treated like background noise.
Let’s be clear: when tens of thousands of students don’t have a stable place to sleep, this is no longer just a housing issue. It is a systemic failure of leadership, priorities, and accountability.
We are told that billions have been spent to address homelessness in Los Angeles. Billions. Yet the crisis is not shrinking it is expanding. And one of the fastest-growing segments isn’t just adults on the street. It’s students trying to get an education while living in instability.
That alone should set off alarms across every level of government. Instead, it hasn’t.
Why? Because student homelessness is easier to ignore. It’s less visible than encampments. It doesn’t dominate headlines. But it should. Because it exposes something deeper than dysfunction—it exposes indifference.
These are not just vulnerable individuals. These are the city’s future workforce, future taxpayers, future leaders. And we are failing them in real time.
Think about the absurdity. A student wakes up in a car or in a living room that isn’t theirs, walks into a classroom, and is expected to perform at the same level as peers who had a full night’s sleep, a quiet place to study, and a sense of stability. Then we act surprised when achievement gaps widen.
This isn’t inequity. It’s inevitability.
Housing instability is now one of the top concerns among youth in Los Angeles County. That should alarm anyone who cares about the future of this city. Because when young people are more worried about where they will sleep than what they will learn, the system is already broken.
And yet where is the urgency?
Where is the coordinated, aggressive response that matches the scale of the crisis? Where is the accountability for results? Where is the leadership willing to admit that the current approach is not working—and change it?
Because right now, what we have is a cycle of announcements without outcomes.
Programs are launched. Funding is allocated. Press conferences are held. And still, the numbers rise.
At some point, we have to stop measuring effort and start measuring results.
This is where moral responsibility comes in. In Jewish tradition, the concept of Tikkun Olam repairing the world is not abstract. It demands action, especially when the most vulnerable are at risk.
And there is nothing more vulnerable than a student without a home.
This crisis demands more than incremental policy tweaks. It demands a reset. A realignment of priorities that puts housing stability for students at the center—not the margins.
Because if Los Angeles cannot solve this if it cannot ensure that a child has a safe place to sleep then every other policy debate is secondary.
This is the bottom line:
A city that cannot house its students is not just struggling it is failing.
Not gradually. Not abstractly. But in real time, every single day.
Because tonight, across Los Angeles, tens of thousands of students will go to sleep without knowing where they belong.
And a city that allows that is a city that has lost its moral compass.
(Shoshannah Kalaydjian is a young Jewish student who writes about education, identity, and the challenges facing the next generation. Growing up in today’s climate, she has witnessed firsthand how rising antisemitism affects young people in classrooms and on college campuses. She is committed to sharing the perspectives of Jewish youth, amplifying student voices, and encouraging leaders to create safer, more inclusive environments for all students.)
