Whereas, The authority to manage the on-campus student housing program at UCI was delegated to the campus Chancellor by the President of the University of California in 1986 under Presidential Delegation of Authority DA 0915 [1], which was amended [2] and then superseded by DA 1014 in 1989 [3]; and

Whereas, The authority to manage the on-campus student housing program was redelegated to the Executive Vice Chancellor of UCI by the Chancellor of UCI in 1995 under Irvine Delegation of Authority IDA 111 [4]; and

Whereas, In 2015 a person earning minimum wage ($9.00 per hour) needed to work an average of 110 hours per week to afford the rent of a 1 bedroom apartment in Orange county at fair market value while spending no more than 30% of their income on rent; and

Whereas, As of 1 January, 2016 the minimum wage in California is $10.00 per hour and a person earning this wage would need to work an average of 99 hours per week to afford the rent of a 1 bedroom apartment in Orange county at fair market value while spending no more than 30% of their income on rent; and

Whereas, 32,510 homeless and housing insecure pre-K through 12th grade students were enrolled in Orange county schools during the 2013-2014 academic year with approximately 11,111 of those students in high school [5] [6],; and

Whereas, There were 1,096 children between the ages of 11 and 20 in the Orange county foster care system in 2014 [7]; and

Whereas, Foster youth face numerous difficulties when transitioning from high school to college and university, including access to affordable housing [8]; and

Whereas, These obstacles may strongly discourage high school and community college students who are or were homeless or who are or were in the foster care system from applying to or enrolling at UCI; and

Whereas, Such housing challenges can also delay, and even prevent, students who are or were homeless or who are or were in the foster care system from remaining enrolled at UCI and earning a degree; and

Whereas, California Assembly Bill (AB) 1228 (Gipson) was signed into law in October 2015 and would require every UC campus to give priority for year-round housing to current and former homeless youth and current and former foster youth, if the Regents of the University of California adopt a resolution to implement the law [9]; and

Whereas, Providing priority housing to students who are or were homeless or who are or were in foster care could encourage talented students to apply to and enroll at UCI and help current UCI students to succeed; therefore, let it be

Resolved, That ASUCI urges the Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor of UCI to establish campus policies consistent with the provisions of AB 1228 (Gipson) to give priority for residence in year-round student housing to current and former homeless youth and current and former foster youth; and

Resolved, That ASUCI urges the Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor of UCI to develop and implement a plan to ensure that current and former homeless youth and current and former foster youth can access housing resources both during and between academic quarters; and

Resolved, That ASUCI offers to assist – without expending additional funding, unless a bill to do so is passed by the ASUCI Legislative Council – in the development and implementation of such a plan; and

Resolved, That ASUCI urges the student governments of the University of California at Berkeley, Davis, L.A., Merced, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz to adopt similar resolutions for housing policies at their respective campuses; and

Resolved, That ASUCI urges the University of California Student Association to adopt a similar resolution for University-wide policies and to actively advocate that the Regents adopt a resolution to make the provisions of AB 1228 (Gipson) applicable, in full, to the University; and

Resolved, That ASUCI urges the Regents to adopt a resolution to make the provisions of AB 1228 (Gipson) applicable, in full, to the University; and

Resolved, That ASUCI urges the Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor of UCI and the Regents to thoroughly consider expanding these campus and University policies to include students at risk of becoming homeless and students older than 25 who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.