In a TikTok video, University of California, Davis student Allie O’Brien dared passing scrollers to take a second look at a photo — and challenge a commonly held assumption in the process.
“If I told you that this picture was of a homeless shelter and that it was run by college students, would you believe me?” O’Brien asked, pointing above her head to a large kitchen filled with natural sunlight.
Every piece of the picture communicates warmth: a backpack hangs off the back of a chair, books peek out from a cubby hole, and a hallway banner says: “WELCOME!”
“This is Aggie House,” O’Brien explained. “It’s a nonprofit shelter that me and my friends run at our university for students experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, any sort of unsafe living condition.”
“Our shelter tends to confuse people a lot, because when you say the words college homelessness, a lot of people think that’s an oxymoron. Like, ‘How can you be in college and homeless? Isn’t the whole point of college that you stay in the dorms and you’re covered by the school?’ That’s actually not the case.”
O’Brien is right. According to The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit newsroom, room and board has become “the fastest-growing cost of college.”
“Tuition hasn’t been growing, but housing costs are growing,” Jason Cohn, research associate at the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute, told The Hechinger Report.
“The college affordability conversation should really be moving to living expenses.”
Cohn explained that it’s a two-pronged problem. Colleges often don’t have enough room to accommodate all of their graduates, which forces students to look for housing off-campus. And affordable housing is increasingly difficult to find.
“It can blindside a lot of people,” said Henry Taylor-Goalby, a student housing officer of the University of California Student Association.
“Students will end up in college and then realize that they’re rent burdened.”
“Colleges are increasingly pushing students off campus,” O’Brien emphasized in their video. “At my university alone, out of our 40,000 students, almost 7% are homeless at some point in any given year. That’s nearly 2,000 students who just do not have a place to stay.”
“Because our universities are offering so little assistance, it’s often up to students to rally around these issues and create the communities and nonprofits necessary to house the students who are currently going unhoused.”
Enter Aggie House. In May 2020, in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, O’Brien teamed up with fellow UC Davis students Ashley Lo and Katie Shen to develop a transitional housing shelter, “for students, by students.”
In their first year alone, they raised over $100,000 to operate a townhouse and provide volunteer assistance, meals, and resources for their residents.
In August 2023, the shelter relocated to A Street, where its team of student volunteers continued to grow. And last year the Davis City Council officially honored Aggie House with the Thong Hy Huynh award, which is given to organizations that “exemplify the goals of diversity, community, social justice, and equal rights.”
Virginia Moore, a student who was recently promoted to resident co-president for the organization, accepted the award on Aggie House’s behalf.
“Before my role as a case manager, I was already interested in social work and counseling, but ever since I’ve taken this greater role in Aggie House … my passion for this kind of work [has] been solidified,” Moore told The California Aggie, a newspaper staffed entirely by UC Davis students.
“We hope the recognition from Davis allows us to be recognized as an impactful resource that deserves to be permanent.”
Header image via Aggie House
