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Will Fresno Unified Rent Apartments for Homeless Students?
NANCY WEBSITE HEADSHOT 1
By Nancy Price, Multimedia Journalist
Published 6 months ago on
March 25, 2025

Fresno Unified is proposing using Community Schools funding to subsidize rents for 10 families. (GV Wire Composite/Paul Marshall)

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Fresno Unified trustees will consider approving a contract to provide housing in central Fresno for as many as 10 FUSD families.

The agenda for Wednesday’s board meeting includes a $156,370 contract with Crossroads Village to rent 10 two-bedroom rental units over a two-year period. The district’s funding would cover rent and security deposits.

Crossroads Village, at the corner of Blackstone and Dakota avenues, is a 143-unit supportive housing project for the chronically homeless that is funded through the Project Homekey program, Housing for a Healthy California, No Place Like Home, and the California Housing Accelerator Program.

To qualify for district assistance, families must already have children enrolled in a Fresno Unified school. They will be evaluated on factors in addition to their homelessness, including whether they are living in a motel or shelter or are transient, are fleeing domestic violence, are earning 30% or less of the area median income, or whether adults or children in the family have severe mental or emotional disorders.

The district would finance the apartments’ rent through its Community Schools program, which provides health clinic and social service outreach to families at select schools in the district.

More Than Housing

According to the district, families selected for the district-subsidized Crossroads Village housing will also be provided “a range of wraparound services designed to reduce chronic absenteeism, improve academic performance, and promote social-emotional well-being.”

The project would provide housing for only a tiny portion of the district’s unhoused students. The district reported that more than 800 students in the 2023-24 school year lacked housing, and 707 were still actively enrolled.

Students who lack stable housing are more likely to be chronically absent or be suspended, and less likely to graduate from high school than peers whose families have homes.

The Project Homekey partnership will work with Fresno Unified to share data about the tenant students’ education, wellness, and the family’s financial outcome to evaluate the program’s success.

The public portion of Wednesday’s board meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be in the second-floor board room of the Education Center at M and Tulare streets in downtown Fresno.

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Nancy Price,
Multimedia Journalist
Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email

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