Slug Shelter - A Home For Students By Students

As tuition and housing costs rise, an increasing and alarming number of students in college are left struggling with housing insecurity in order to continue taking classes and complete their course work. Students have been known to sleep in their cars, find a friend’s couch to sleep on, and, sometimes, camp out on the side of the road. This can often result in students having to drop out of school and miss their opportunity to earn a college education.

The proposed Slug Shelter will be dedicated to assisting students who are marginalized by their struggle with the cost of living, including housing and food costs, financial aid and family problems. Our goal is to provide approximately 12-14 UCSC students with a safe, consistent environment designed to allow the students to build a community and support in a place that meets their mental, emotional and physical needs while still allowing them to continue their higher education. We will be connecting each student with a mentor specializing in social work and the housing and financial aid system to assist them with finding a more permanent housing solution. We plan to provide semi-permanent housing to students in need as well as meals for the students who live there. In order to select students most in need of this support and who would best be served by the Slug Shelter, we are developing a selection system in collaboration with social work professionals and the student-run shelters already in place at UCLA and USC.

In addition to providing housing to students who would otherwise be homeless, the Slug Shelter will be offering volunteer experience and provide exceptional professional development opportunities to students who wish to help run it. The team will consist of a range of positions for students who will fill roles ranging from managerial roles to Resident Advisors to the residents of the shelter. These students will go through a rigorous and professional selection and training process.