Austin Community College student leaders advocate for housing affordability reforms

Kay Trent was already attending Austin Community College while living in the San Antonio area when she decided to moved to Austin to qualify for lower tuition rates. Trent, 29, a former English as a second language teacher, sold nearly all of her belongings to move to the city about eight months ago and then was immediately confronted by the city’s high rents. Trent now lives in a six-bedroom co-op about a mile from the college’s flagship Highland campus. Trent, vice president of ACC’s Student Government Association, is one of the thousands of ACC students grappling with the rising cost of living in Austin while attending college. Multiple ACC students told the American-Statesman that they have had to resort to couch surfing, regularly visiting food pantries or moving farther and farther from Central Austin to make ends meet.

“We have students living in the parking garage. We have students living under bridges nearby. We have students that are trying to stay in the building as long as they can because after 10 p.m. they have nowhere to go," Trent said. After hearing from other ACC students who are facing housing insecurity or dealing with a lack of affordable housing, Trent and a small group of leaders in ACC's student government are asking the ACC Board of Trustees to respond to the affordability crisis by taking a variety of actions. The list of requests includes working with community partners to find affordable housing options, identifying housing sites close to campus with reliable free transportation options for students and creating a committee to prioritize student housing. ACC spokesperson Sydney Pruitt said the college plans to work with the students to identify housing solutions, increase awareness of housing resources, and alleviate the personal and financial challenges that students face.