Student Housing and Food Security Study

The purpose of the Student Housing and Food Insecurity Study is to understand the prevalence of housing and food insecurity among university students across the University of Washington’s (UW’s) three campuses (UW-Seattle, UW-Tacoma, and UW-Bothell). This study is motivated not only by concerns regarding the increased cost of living in the Puget Sound region, but also by the lack of systematic information about how UW students on all three campuses might be affected by these economic changes. This study is the first to systematically examine the extent of housing and food insecurity among the entire University of Washington student population.

Overall, this research project seeks to address the following research questions:

1. How prevalent is housing and food insecurity among UW students across all campuses – Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell?
2. What are the characteristics of UW students experiencing housing and/or food insecurity?
3. What factors are associated with housing and food insecurity among UW students?

This study is a project of Urban@UW’s Homelessness Research Initiative.

Read the Report    Browse the Survey Instrument

Popular Writing

• University of Washington (May 2019): UW students face food, housing insecurity, survey shows
• Seattle Times: Thousands of UW students have been homeless or skipping meals, survey finds
• Tacoma News Tribune: UW study finds many students at Tacoma campus struggle to pay rent, get enough to eat
• KOMO News: Thousands of UW students grapple with hunger, housing instability, survey finds 
• UW Press release (March 2018): Tri-campus survey aims to identify student struggles with housing, food costs