Student Housing Crisis

University students need affordable housing options near campus

A UC-Irvine student who is sleeping in his car in 2013. California’s widespread lack of affordable housing has made student homelessness a chronic problem. Photographer: MediaNews Group/Orange County Re/MediaNews Group RM via Getty Images [source]

Students are homeless

Options for housing near campuses is increasingly becoming an issue as universities across the US increase their enrollment without building university-subsidized affordable housing options. Housing costs are a substantial component of student loans. Each university handles housing differently, but California is particularly expensive resulting in a need for intelligent and effective student housing planning. University of California does not have that.

UC annually assesses its students' basic needs across all campuses. Here are the results from the combined 2020 and 2021 surveys.

UC San Diego Student Basic Needs Survey

The following question was asked to graduate and undergraduate students. The total number of responses is 10,953. 9% (958) of the respondents were graduate students and 89% (9995) undergraduates.

1,169 students (11%) stated they had -- 56 graduate and (6%) and 1,113 undergraduate (11%) students. 50% (557) of the undergraduates that had were Pell Grant recipients (students from low-income backgrounds). The most common residency status for undergrads was California residents (73%) and for graduate students International students (55%).

In the last 12 months, have you ever slept overnight in any of the following places because you didn't have a permanent home?

Most common place slept:

Undergraduate Students

  1. Temporarily with a relative, friend, or couch surfing (85%)

  2. In a living room or another space not originally intended for habitation in a house or apartment (20%)

  3. Temporarily on campus in libraries, offices, or other non-residential university spaces (15%)

Graduate Students

  1. Temporarily with a relative, friend, or couch surfing (85%)

  2. Temporarily at a hotel or motel without a permanent home to return to (14%)

  3. Temporarily in an Airbnb without a permanent home to return to (13%)

Note: there is a tendency for technology-based surveys to underrepresent the housing insecure population.

See with the data yourself (or look at other campuses) here

At University of California, on-campus student housing is a self-supporting program

At University of California, on-campus student housing is a self-supporting program. Therefore, across all campuses, it acts as a separate entity from the university. As stated in the California Legislative Analyst's Office report on student housing:

Traditionally, the state does not directly approve, oversee, or provide funding for campuses’ housing programs. Rather, campuses support their housing programs by charging students rent when they live in an on-campus housing facility. The revenue generated from these rents cover the annual cost to operate housing programs. Additionally, campuses typically fund housing construction and renovation projects by issuing bonds and paying the associated debt service costs using rental revenue. Campuses also build reserves in their housing programs, which they in turn can use to help cover housing operating shortfalls in a given year or support a portion of housing capital costs.

According to student survey data, on-campus living costs (consisting of both housing and food costs) average $17,259 across UC campuses, with costs ranging from $16,145 (San Diego) to $20,236 (Berkeley).

All UC campuses report on-campus housing as costlier than living in off‑campus housing (typically apartments or houses in the community) or with parents.

Housing, Dining, and Hospitality (HDH) at UCSD

Like the other campuses at UC, UCSD's housing and food operations are a separate entity from UCSD. That means that HDH must be fully self-sustaining, as stated above. This means the student housing is in now way university subsidized. HDH is still an auxiliary unit of UCSD, so housing that is built by HDH using loans from UCSD's reserves, but HDH is expected to pay those loans back. Furthermore, due to its legal shelter as part of the university, HDH is not required by law to follow California's rent control restrictions as passed by the Tenant Protection Act of 2019.

UCSD is a loan shark. HDH is an unregulated landlord.

Coming soon in this section: Further analyses! How does HDH really work? Is it normal? Does HDH and UCSD's Real Estate office make good decisions? And what are we paying for their decisions?

A sneak preview:

A screenshot of an article from The San Diego Union-Tribune, titled "UCSD buys $42 million apartment building in San Diego's East Village"

More expensive investments

UCSD is expanding into San Diego's expensive and coastal downtown neighborhood.

This purchase is intended for faculty and staff as part of efforts to provide affordable housing to assist with the recruitment and retention of faculty.

Their introductory units:

Screenshot showing the floor plan of a studio apartment. It stated that the studio is 332 square feet with 1 bathroom, with a price tag from $2000

Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program

A glimmer of hope?

Only if they do it well.

Source: California's Legislative Analyst's Office

In 2021, in response to outcries, the state of California created the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program to promote the construction of on-campus housing. They have committed to spending $400M across UC campuses spread over 3 years. The state has required that rents for the state-funded on-campus housing units cannot exceed 30-50% of a campus area's median income, stating that

Prior to the state adopting the new student housing grant program, campuses did not use [student income] to set on campus housing rental rates.

In the first round of applications, UC submitted 9 applications:

  • Los Angeles (1) - Accepted

    • Proposed: 358 affordable beds

    • Total cost: $35M state funds, $29M nonstate

  • San Diego (1) - Accepted

    • Proposed: 1,100 affordable beds; 208 standard

    • Total cost: $100M state funds, $236M nonstate

  • Irvine (1) - Deemed lower priority

  • Santa Cruz (1) - Deemed lower priority

  • Berkeley (1) - Deemed lower priority

  • Riverside (1) - INELIGIBLE

    • Proposed rent exceeded limit

  • Merced (3) - INELIGIBLE

    • Did not demonstrate financial feasibility (2)

    • Requested Planning Grants (1)

  • San Fransisco (1) - INELIGIBLE

    • Required seismic retrofit of existing academic facility

selection priority based on state funding per bed and proposed rent

The state notes that they fear the "Campuses might face pressure to cover the higher costs by raising rents or constructing fewer affordable beds, thereby undermining the program’s intent"