Sahil Nair
This winter break, up to ten students with unstable housing situations will be offered winter housing at an off-campus Airbnb rental. This new program was spearheaded by the Georgetown Scholarship Program (GSP) and financially sponsored by several different student groups and administrative offices.
Because on-campus residences close during the holiday, all on-campus students are forced to leave and find other housing arrangements. Though many go back to spend time with family, students with unstable housing situations, called independent students, have in the past had a more difficult time. According to GSP Director Melissa “Missy” Foy (COL ‘03), these students used to receive money from GSP as a housing “per diem.” They would receive a housing allowance in their student accounts and were left to find arrangements on their own, which could be stressful in the wake of finals. Some would stay in the off-campus townhouses of other GSP members after they left.
“It was definitely a band-aid solution,” said Foy. She mentioned that students with townhouses often didn’t have time to clean them or faced trouble organizing the arrangement with their housemates. “It was inconvenient for both parties and the students that were staying in these places, I think they never felt fully at home.”
In August, GSP arranged to rent the winter house from Airbnb, even though the cost put them in a bind. “That’s when Harrison Williams from the Corp came in. And the Corp … ended up contributing $4500,” Foy said. Williams (COL ‘16) is the Corp Board of Directors’ Social Impact Chair.
According to Foy, GUSA President Joe Luther (COL ’16) and Williams went to different offices trying to find sponsorship for the program. “I have to give them all the credit,” said Foy. “They kind of drove it.” As a result of their efforts, sponsors for the winter house include GUSA, GUASFCU, the Corp, the Alumni Association, and the Offices of the President and the Provost.
“We thought GUSA had a role to play in raising awareness and fundraising for this initiative and I’m grateful it has coalesced in the manner it has thus far,” wrote Luther in an email to the Voice. “We were happy to provide support to this effort,” wrote Joe Ferrara, Chief of Staff of the Office of the President, in an email.
“We certainly would have done it, there’s no question about it, if it were just GSP doing this, but … what was really important this year is that the house is getting campus-wide support,” said Foy. “All these different parties are actually all invested in it, not just like encouraging it and supporting it but also financially, they are each contributing.” GSP’s budget, according to Foy, depends mostly on philanthropy.
