Basic Needs Insecurity and Student Homelessness in Higher Education

For many people, college is a time of opportunity, personal growth, and preparation for a future career. However, for a significant amount of students at Portland State University, the college experience is complicated by a much more urgent concern: finding a stable place to live. Student homelessness and housing insecurity are serious but these issues often go overlooked by college campuses across the United States, including PSU.

According to research conducted through Portland State University's Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, housing instability is a widespread problem among the universities's student population. A 2023 survey found that 54.7% of student respondents experienced housing insecurity within the previous 12 months, while 19.1% reported experiencing homelessness during that same time period. In addition, 53.9% of students reported food insecurity within the previous 30 days. These statistics highlight the extent to which basic needs insecurity affects students at PSU. 

Housing insecurity can take many forms. it may involve students sleeping on friends' couches, living in overcrowded housing, or frequently moving between temporary living situations. Homelessness may include staying in shelters, vehicles, or other places not intended for long-term living. For college students who are already managing coursework, jobs, and personal responsibilities, this instability can create enormous stress and barriers to academic success. 

The data also shows that certain groups of students experience higher rates of homelessness and housing insecurity. Students from marginalized communities, especially BIPOC and LGBTQ+ students, students with disabilities, and first generation college students report higher levels of basic needs insecurity. These disparities highlight how economic inequalities and systemic barriers can influence students' ability to access stable housing while pursuing higher education. 

Housing insecurity does not exist in isolation; it is often connected to other financial challenges students face. Tuition costs, rising rent prices in Portland, and limiting access to affordable housing all contribute to the problem. Portland, like many major U.S cities, has experienced a significant increase in housing costs over the past decade, making it more difficult for students to find affordable living arrangements near campus. 

Despite the challenges, PSU has taken steps to address student homelessness through research, awareness initiatives, and support services. Programs such as emergency funding, basic needs hub, PSU food pantry, housing assistance, legal support, and referral programs to other mutual aid programs aim to help students maintain stable housing and continue their education. 

Student homelessness is often invisible compared to other social issues, but the statistics show it is a significant challenge with higher education. Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step toward meaningful solutions. by raising awareness and expanding support systems, universities like Portland State can help ensure that students are not forced to choose between pursuing their education and meeting their most basic human needs. 

Here are the statistics for this blog. 

     

The Hidden Struggles of Portland’s Homeless Population

Imagine trying to apply for a job without your ID.
Or refill a prescription without your medication.
Or trying for a housing appointment after your paperwork has been thrown away.

This is the unfortunate reality for many people experiencing homelessness in Portland.

The ongoing danger of losing belongings is one of the most disregarded issues facing homeless people. Since there is nowhere safe to keep identification cards, birth certificates, Social Security paperwork, medications, job equipment, phones, and clothes, people frequently carry these with them at all times. These necessities might vanish in a matter of minutes when encampments are removed or property is taken. When belongings disappear, progress disappears with them.

Applications for housing, jobs, and government aid may be delayed if important documents are lost. It is expensive and time-consuming to replace identification. There may be immediate health hazards if medication is lost. Missing calls from caseworkers, shelters, or possible employers can even result from misplacing a phone.

Some shelters offer lockers, but access is limited and often tied to overnight stays. Many people living outside do not have consistent access to these services. As camps shift locations or are removed, belongings are frequently lost, damaged, or discarded.

If we want to support real progress toward housing and employment, we must address this basic need, which is secure storage.

Protecting belongings protects opportunity.

To learn more about this topic and how you could help, click HERE.

 

One Unexpected Expense Away

By Eman E.

Imagine someone named Marisol.

She’s a single parent living in Portland with her eight-year-old son. She works full-time at a grocery store. It’s not a bad job, but it doesn’t pay enough to feel stable. Every month is a balancing act. Rent takes most of her paycheck. SNAP benefits help cover groceries. Medicaid helps with healthcare. She tracks every expense because there’s no room for mistakes.

Then something small happens.

Her car breaks down.

It’s not dramatic or unusual. Just an unexpected repair that costs more than she can afford. She puts it on a credit card, thinking she’ll catch up over the next few months if she can pick up some extra shifts. But next month brings higher utility bills, and soon after that her lease renewal comes with a rent increase. Suddenly she’s behind. One missed payment turns into two. Late fees pile up. The eviction notice arrives.

Now Marisol and her son are living in their car.

This story is fictional, but it reflects a reality many individuals and families face. Becoming unhoused isn’t always about long-term instability or personal failure. Far too many times it’s simply the result of being pushed past a financial edge that was already thin. Many households are one unexpected expense away from losing housing. When wages don’t match rising rents and the cost of living, stability becomes fragile.

In Portland, organizations are working to interrupt this cycle before people fall through the cracks. One example is Impact NW, a nonprofit focused on preventing homelessness by partnering with people as they work toward stability. Their programs help individuals and families access housing resources, financial assistance, and support systems that can keep people housed during difficult moments. According to their mission, the goal is to prevent homelessness by helping people navigate challenges before they become irreversible crises.

This kind of work in prevention usually looks like small actions behind the scenes, like helping someone cover rent for one month, guiding them through available resources before things get worse, or simply having someone help problem solve when everything feels overwhelming. These small interventions can make the difference between staying housed and becoming part of the growing unhoused population.

Stories like Marisol’s remind us that homelessness isn’t always far away or disconnected from everyday life. Economic pressure, rising housing costs, unexpected emergencies, and loss of employment create conditions where many people are closer to housing instability than they realize. Understanding this helps shift the conversation from blame toward solutions.

If you want to learn more or support organizations working on prevention in Portland, you can visit Impact NW here:

   👉 https://impactnw.org/

Bike Grease and Coffee Beans: How P:EAR Helps Homeless Youth Build Skills

 

It’s easy to get cynical about the state of the homelessness crisis in Portland, let alone the country at large. We see streets lined with people sleeping on the sidewalk, read headlines about debates over budget cuts, and hear countless thoughts on what’s going wrong. Rarely however do we hear much about what’s going right.

While the city government is focused on budget plans, there's a quiet, radical movement brewing in the heart of it all.

P:EAR, a local outreach organization, doesn't treat homelessness like a policy problem that needs to be solved. Instead, they focus on the people that exist behind the headlines. Striving to build skills and forge human connections.

Many traditional homeless services focus on immediate survival, keeping someone alive for the night. P:EAR provides many traditional services, but takes a step further and asks what happens after someone’s been fed? For a young kid living on the streets who’s been cast off by society and told they’re invisible, a meal isn't going to get you stable housing. That’s where "P:EAR Works" comes in. Through a number of mentorship and skill building programs, P:EAR teaches homeless youth valuable and marketable skills they can then leverage to create paths to a stable future.

The P:EAR Gallery teaches youth work with local artists and professionals, learning how to screen print graphics for products, or use professional digital design software like Adobe. You can view participants work on NW 6th Ave. They are open Tuesdays - Fridays from 9am - 2pm.

Also on 6th Ave. is Coffee Works, a 10 week intensive barista training program which looks to give participants skills and experience in a coffee shop, giving them an edge in a competitive market. You can stop by their walk-up espresso window and see the skills for yourself.

Flower works provides paid training, mentorship, and hand on sustainable agricultural experience.

Bike works is not only a full-service bike shop run by P:EAR where the public can go for anything from a flat repair to a full wheel rebuild, it is yet another training ground for P:EAR participants where they are able to learn the in’s and out’s of bike repair and all the mechanical skills that go along with it. Skills that couldn’t be more suited to a bike-loving city like Portland. They are on SE Stark Street and are open 11AM - 6PM Wednesday through Saturday.

This all comes on top teaching resume building, interview skills, conflict resolution, finance, and customer service. P:EAR doesn't just see the people accessing their services as “homeless youth” but as neighbors and valuable members of our society.

A mentorship isn’t just "charity." It’s a way to ensure our city doesn’t just survive, but also thrives. We can ignore the problem, or we can support the people building a real way out.

Click here to see how P:EAR is changing lives.

Greater Need, Fewer Beds.

Ask anyone in Portland if they want a solution to the homelessness crisis, and they’ll likely agree. Ask what they think that solution should be, and the answer quickly becomes more varied.

In the midst of rising rates of homelessness in Portland, Multnomah County’s Homeless Services Department (HSD) has proposed eliminating 675 shelter beds to make up for expected funding deficits. This is in addition to potentially eliminating 16 full-time positions at the HSD. The HSD says this is because they expect to see an $87 million deficit in the upcoming year, which includes $31 million of "one-time-only" funding that will end at the end of FY 2026. Which includes $31 million of “one-time-only” funding that will end at the end of FY 2026.

The cause of this deficit is because the HSD expects not to receive funding from the City of Portland in the coming years budget. If so, this would be the first time HSD did not receive funding since 2016.

HSD has said it is shifting its focus away from temporary shelter beds, and is focusing on supporting permanent housing. For some, such as Anna Plumb, interim director of the HSD, this is a strategic move that will allow the department to better insulate their permanent housing programs from a tightening budget. “By reducing units of shelter, we were able to protect all of our permanent supportive housing, keeping over two thousand people in their homes. We were also able to minimize reductions to rapid rehousing programs.”

They expressed a want to focus on creating pathways off the street, arguing that while shelters are important, they’re temporary, and they can create a revolving door effect where people come in and out, but don’t transition out of shelter living to more permanent care. Critics, on the other hand, say they are a vital resource, keeping people alive.

When funding is a zero-sum game, where do we choose to put limited resources?

Click here to read more.

When Security is on the Road- Where Mobile Asset Storage Programs Succeed and Fail

 When Security is on the Road- Where Mobile Asset Storage Programs Succeed and Fail

Mobile Asset Storage- Many companies rely on this technology, especially due to our fast- moving economy. Whether it is for construction crews, 911 operators, or basic everyday tech, we rely on this. But what about when this tech is transported from one location to another, stored in trailers or mobile units? They often are left unguarded, or with lax security. Here lies the problem.

The Hidden Cost of Mobile Storage Theft

According to a report by the National Equipment Register (NER), construction equipment theft alone costs hundreds of millions of dollars annually in the United States. When necessary mobile equipment is stolen like this, it has many adverse effects on the people and the company. Deadlines pass by and/or are missed, the companies of course lose money, and clients will lose trust in the company. 

To a lot of people, this can just be seen as not more than an annoyance. But imagine this is life or death. A lack of equipment that the company deems necessary to either complete a job or save a life can lead to disastrous consequences. 

Why Traditional Security Fails on Mobile Units

One of the main issues on why mobile asset storage fails is due to using outdated tech. Many companies don’t deem it necessary to upgrade this technology, mostly because people will only realize it until it is too late. Some of the issues they have on mobile storage is using very basic padlocks, old security cameras or lack thereof, and minimal lighting. GPS tracking does exist, but the problem with this is that once it is stolen, it’s already stolen! The equipment could already be damaged or used, and there is no guarantee of recovery.

(Below is an image of one of Proven Industries’ most successful products, an excellent choice at keeping your mobile assets safe and secure.)

When Security Works: Layered, Proactive Programs

So what makes mobile asset storages successful? The most successful storage security programs share these three traits:

1. Layered Deterrence

Having special deterrents like automatic lights and visible surveillance cameras are a great way of stopping your product from getting stolen before it even happens. Other systems like alarmed doors, reinforced enclosures, and high-security locking programs are also a fantastic and necessary choice for mobile storage programs.

2. Accountability Culture

This point is not just about new safer technology per se, but about forming habits that keep the company's best interests at heart. Having check-in and check-out procedures, keeping track of company assets through tagging and tracking, and audits and self-checking inventory procedures are great methods of reducing internal loss for the company.

3. Real-Time Monitoring

Up-to-date monitoring technology allows users to see when things are happening in real time, like opening doors, movement, lights, and just overall tampering of the product. This cuts down on the reaction time and gives companies a chance to save their products from being mistreated, vandalized, or stolen.

When these systems are implemented correctly, theft drops significantly. More importantly, operational confidence rises. Teams can focus on their work—not on whether their tools will still be there tomorrow.

(Below is an example of unsecured tools during a construction project. Improper enclosures for tools can lead to increased theft of the company’s assets.)

(Here is an image of a solar powered mobile surveillance trailer. Often used in open parking lots, this is an excellent example of using modern technology to keep a company’s assets safe.) 

Why You Should Care

Now, you may have read all of this and thought “okay, but this could never happen to me”, which is a reasonable conclusion. So WHY exactly should you care? Think about the cost, and the consequences. With a lack of security, you not only lose the products and their value, there are other things to consider, like a rising cost of insurance, higher infrastructure costs, and increased utility bills. Productivity is slowed, investors, employees and customers lose their faith in your business, and seriously. THE COST. It simply just makes sense to have better security with how easy it is to break into these things.

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If you want to understand the scale of equipment theft and how it impacts industries nationwide, click here on the National Equipment Register to learn about why you should invest in better mobile asset security:
https://sentrypods.com/tracking-equipment-theft-on-u-s-construction-sites-real-statistics-state-insights/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

When your mobile assets are vandalized or stolen, take it into your own hands and make the smart decision by upgrading to stronger mobile asset storage security.

Hunger: A Human Issue 

By Ryan Sterling Guzman

One thing that continues to be an important marker for any upstanding society is how we deal with hunger. 

This can take on many forms from overwhelming disasters to smaller tragedies that occur in human life. A factor affecting many of us today is our current economy. As of time of writing, we are experiencing a great deal of trouble from our own country and abroad. It is not just hurting the homeless, but the middle class as well. This means that food and water budgets are starting to tighten and can get worse if these issues are not addressed. 

Thus, facilities like food pantries are now more vital than ever. They can be non-profits or for greater charitable foundations, but all provide a basic and necessary need for our nourishment in these harsh times. 

Now I would like to make a plea. If you know someone that could benefit from this service, I ask that you start donating what you can to these vital services today. Especially if you have shelf-stable food sources like canned goods, Dried goods, or anything that can be stable for many months at a time. Also consider providing some utensils and other necessities to these organizations that truly need our help as much as they help those in need. 

To find out more about pantries, how they provide and ways to donate to one, Click here. 

To locate a local pantry near you, Click here. 

If you or someone you know is having trouble feeding themselves and is a Portland State University student, Consider this aid opportunity provided by The PSU pantry.