Teaching Homelessness: How American Community College Faculty Approach Housing Insecurity as a Curricular Topic

Abstract

Community college students are more likely than their peers in four-year colleges to experience homelessness or housing instability. At the same time, homelessness is a curricular topic, particularly in social science courses. Given the prevalence of homelessness and housing instability in the community college student population, likely worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent and ongoing economic crisis, this project sought to discover how community college faculty approach homelessness and housing instability as a curricular topic, including their theoretical and praxis perspectives, and the integration of students’ lived experience into their instruction. Fourteen faculty from a variety of disciplines participated in interviews, revealing that homelessness is most often used a way for students to explore foundational theories in sociology. Participants problematized their teaching around homelessness, particularly their service-learning activities, and described the importance of care and safety when discussing housing with students they recognized could have lived experience with homelessness. Future research should explore students’ experiences in classes where homelessness is a curricular topic, and how more critical theoretical approaches may be beneficial.