New Glendale housing assistance program prioritizes college students

PHOENIX – Glendale is launching a program to address housing insecurity in the West Valley suburb, with the focus on helping community college students.

The city on Tuesday announced it was using $1.2 million in federal housing grant funds for a rental assistance program in partnership with nonprofit group A New Leaf and Glendale Community College.

The program will provide vouchers to families and individuals considered “housing ready” who are likely to successfully maintain housing on their own after an assistance period of up to two years, according to a press release.

A New Leaf will administer the program, which was developed after Glendale Community College President Teresa Leyba Ruiz reached out to the city on behalf of students in need of housing support.

“My intention was to learn about Glendale’s housing programs and instead we had a powerful conversation about the possibilities that would benefit both the city of Glendale and GCC students experiencing housing insecurity,” Leyba Ruiz said in a press release.

The program won’t be limited to GCC students, but they will be the priority population. Students in the program will be offered academic and life-skill support services.

“When Teresa shared stories of students that stayed as long as they could in the student union and used fitness facilities to shower, we had to find a way to do something,” Jean Moreno, director of Glendale’s Community Services Department, said in the release.

Applications will be accepted by referral only. Interested GCC students can contact Connie Greenwell at 623-845-4474 or c.greenweel@gccaz.edu. Others seeking referrals can email the Norton and Ramsey Social Justice Empowerment Center at nrec@cassaz or the city at revitalization@glendaleaz.com.

Visit the city’s website for information about other public housing programs.

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