• Dylan Swanlek, a UCO student, experienced a nine-month period without stable housing
• Swanlek struggled to secure stable employment and housing
• He transferred from OSU to UCO due to lower tuition costs

Most 20-year-olds entering college worry about balancing school and work, keeping their grades up and making new friends. But right before he was due to start college at Oklahoma State University, Dylan Swanlek said his mother kicked him out of their home, leaving him scrambling to find stable housing.

“Because I was of legal age, instead of having to stay with her by law, she just said, ‘Get out,’” Swanlek said.

According to Youth.gov, those aged 24 and younger may be most at risk of becoming homeless. Many factors contribute to this, but abuse, neglect, abandonment and severe familial conflict can increase a person’s risk of becoming homeless.

Swanlek said he had a contentious relationship with his mother, who raised him as a single parent and had severe mental health issues. While they argued frequently, they were also the only family each other had. Swanlek often took care of his mother after she suffered what Swanlek described as mental breakdowns. One such breakdown, when Swanlek was 20, left him homeless for nine months.

Swanlek packed up his car and drove to Pennsylvania, where he stayed with relatives. But the situation didn’t last, and eventually he returned to Oklahoma. He spent months bouncing from place to place in search of stable housing. At times, he had to live out of his car, although Swanlek said he was lucky it usually wasn’t for weeks on end.

Swanlek and his mother had two dogs and a cat, and when he was kicked out, he took one of the dogs with him. 

“He’s my dog that I’ve had since fifth grade,” Swanlek said, explaining his decision to keep the pet. “There were definitely times I regretted that because it made things harder, expenses-wise and apartment-wise.”

Despite the extra hardships of keeping his pet, Swanlek described the dog as his best friend and said there were times he would not have been able to endure without him.

Swanlek had been working since he was 16, but during this nine-month period, he had difficulty securing stable employment.  He used loans meant for school just to survive. Swanlek said he was unable to secure grants at the time because his mother illegally claimed him as a dependent on her taxes. Even when Swanlek landed a role as a retail assistant manager in Stillwater, he was only making $14 an hour. 

According to the Hope Center for Student Basic Needs’ 2023-24 survey, 59% of students experienced some form of basic needs insecurity. 48% of students surveyed had experienced housing insecurity, and 14% had experienced homelessness.  

Low pay was a major factor in Swanlek’s decision to relocate from Stillwater to Oklahoma City and study at UCO rather than OSU. UCO’s lower tuition rates also made it a more appealing choice. After falling out with a group of friends he had been staying with, Swanlek took it as a sign to move on. 

“I kind of took it as the universe directing me out of Stillwater,” he said.

Swanlek didn’t have a concrete plan when he began relocating to OKC. He went on a lengthy apartment search, encountering many buildings with hidden fees that he couldn’t afford. Finally, after touring about 10 buildings, his luck turned.

Swanlek said he wouldn’t call the apartment he eventually lived in a hidden gem, as it “definitely wasn’t a good apartment by any means,” but that it was perfect considering his circumstances at the time. The owner was a first-time landlord and didn’t require a larger income than Swanlek had or a long track record of previously rented apartments. 

“As bad as it sounds, she didn’t hold me to many standards,” Swanlek said. 

Swanlek was able to secure stable employment soon after moving to OKC. Now a UCO student, he said he still struggles with chronic loneliness but is more resilient because of his experiences.

“I’m 10 times more resilient than I was at that point, because there were days and weeks when I had to figure it out and hope things worked out,” Swanlek said.