As California invests $116 million in one-time funding over three years to aid students experiencing homelessness, new data show housing insecurity is worsening statewide among K-12 students.
According to the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools, nearly 300,000 students experienced homelessness in California during the 2024-25 school year, a 10-percent increase over 2018-19 and a new statewide high.
Minority students, including Black and Native American students, are impacted at higher rates.
“Student homelessness is an educational equity crisis,” the report said, noting it created domino effects on a student’s educational path.
Monterey County ranks seventh in the highest number of students experiencing housing insecurity out of 58 counties. During the 2018-19 school year, the county reported 9,079 students experiencing homelessness; last school year, that number rose to 13,010, an increase of over 6 percent in the span of seven years.
Monterey County Superintendent of Schools Deneen Guss says one reason the number has increased, beyond the economic challenges local families face, is that school districts are better at identifying students. “I suspect that there are many, many more children in our county that are not even in our numbers that are experiencing housing insecurity,” Guss says.
Four of the 10 districts with the highest rates of students experiencing homelessness in California are in Monterey County: Salinas City Elementary and Santa Rita Union, both in Salinas; rank first and 10th, respectively. SCESD had 3,681 students, or 42.6 percent of its student body, experiencing homelessness during the 2024-25 school year, while SRUSD had 800 students, or 24.5 percent.
North Monterey County Unified ranked sixth, with 1,271 students (28 percent) and Greenfield Union Elementary was eighth.
Cheryl Camany, SCESD homeless liaison, notes that most students impacted live in overcrowded conditions, with several families in one home. Some may rent a living room or a walk-in closet, defined as homeless in education terminology. One family of seven lived in a 10-by-10-foot room. “Those are some of the scenarios that we have,” Camany says.
Many families struggling to pay rent are farmworkers who are employed seasonally and experience a drop in income after the harvest season. “Families that have limited resources struggle to find temporary housing,” says Donna Smith, director of program integration and support at the Monterey County Office of Education. “Housing costs so much, when they make so little.”
Local school districts and the MCOE work to identify and support students and their families experiencing housing insecurity. It starts by encouraging families to self-identify. They also provide motel vouchers, rental assistance, access to washers and dryers, optometry appointments and more. Each district tailors their program based on families’ needs.