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Fall 2007
City and Regional Planning 98/198
1 Unit(s)

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community service /
field work course

About the Course:

As part of its mission to educate the campus community about affordable housing issues, members of the Cal Habitat for Humanity campus chapter are facilitating a De-Cal (Democratic Education at Cal) course on affordable housing issues.  The student-led course will examine why there is a need for decent and affordable housing and what the public and private sectors are doing to address this need.  The course will feature weekly guest speakers from academia, government, and non-profit organizations who will share with students their perspectives on housing.  Topics include housing segregation, gentrification, public policy, community and economic development, homelessness, and privatization of housing.  In addition, a fieldwork component will give students the opportunity to take action by building Habitat for Humanity homes.

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Interesting facts about homelessness to chew on.

1. Homelessness is a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States (only a few decades old). The causes of homelessness most frequently cited (i.e. the movement of mental health systems to community-based treatment when there was an absence of local housing programs, the economic stagnation of the 70s, and the lack of mental treatment for veterans of the Vietnam War) originated during the 1960s to 1980s.

2. As many as 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year (1% of the entire U.S. population or 10% of its poor), and about 842,000 people in any given week.

3. Familial composition of the homeless:
* 40% are families with children—the fastest growing segment.
* 41% are single males.
* 14% are single females.
* 5% are minors unaccompanied by adults.
*1.37 million (or 39%) of the total homeless population are children under the age of 18.

4. Ethnic Composition of the homeless:
* 49% are African American (compared to 11% of general population).
* 35% are Caucasian (under-represented compared to 75% of general population).
* 13% are Hispanic (compared to 10% of general population).
* 2% are Native American (compared to 1% of general population).
* 1% are Asian-American (under-represented compared to 4% of general population).

(Information courtesy of Wikipedia)