California's student-housing crisis has forced hundreds of UC students to live in hotel rooms and vehicles. But campus building efforts have sparked litigation and outcry at campuses, including UC Santa Barbara.
After months of pandemic isolation, Kris Hotchkiss expected a celebratory return to campus for his senior year at UC Santa Barbara. Instead, he and hundreds of fellow students have found themselves hammered by another crisis: a major housing crunch.
Hotchkiss had to endure a leaking roof, soggy bedding and power failure that shut down the ceiling fan, refrigerator and lights for six weeks. He has no shower or toilet. That’s because he lives in a van — the only affordable shelter he could find. “I was upset, stressed, hopeless that I couldn’t find any affordable housing,” said Hotchkiss, a communication major from Camarillo. “It sometimes sucks” to live in a van, he said, “but there was no other choice.”with tiny rooms and few windows — derisively dubbed “Dormzilla” — sparked outrage and national headlines. But the more urgent problem is a campus affordable housing crisis hitting thousands of students across California’s three public university systems — leaving some unsheltered, others with mounting debt burdens and many filled with anxiety and stress.More than 16,000 students at the University of California and California State University were on waitlists for housing this fall, despite construction of 36,000 beds by both systems since 2015, according to aby the state Legislative Analyst’s Office. UC Berkeley alone turned away more than 5,500 housing requests this fall, and 40% of undergraduates are unable to live in the city due to scarce supply and high rents, the campus reports. For the California Community Colleges system, only 12 of 116 campuses have housing programs, which shelter 2,400 students, ansaid. The campuses traditionally weren’t meant to offer residential life for commuter students. But the need is so high, with 20% of community college students reporting homelessness, that 81 colleges have submitted applications for new state housing grants to plan or construct dorm projects. Long Beach City College announced the implementation of a pilot Safe Parking Program for enrolled students to reside in their vehicles overnight in a secure campus location.this month to allow 15 students living in cars to park overnight in a campus parking structure. So far, two students are sleeping in their cars on campus and nine more have applied. The idea has been rejected elsewhere, including at UC Santa Cruz, where then-Chancellor George Blumenthal said the campus had better alternatives than what he feared would create a “huge headache” with the need for security and 24/7 access to campus toilets and showers. The growing housing stresses are rooted in a confluence of factors. Under political pressure to boost enrollment, UC added 27,583 undergraduates — but about 22,000 beds — since 2015. Community protests, environmental concerns and litigation have slowed down or halted at least six UC housing projects in the last three years.Architect slams UC Santa Barbara mega-dorm as ‘social, psychological experiment,’ quits in protest The $1.5-billion project would house more than 4,500 students, but 94% of the rooms would have no windows. The pandemic has also played a role. UC San Diego, for instance, eliminated triple-occupancy rooms this fall due to COVID-19 restrictions; the net loss in housing capacity caused the campus to eliminate its two-year housing guarantee until fall 2023, the. Campuses had to set aside dorm rooms to quarantine those who are infected with the virus or who had been closely exposed to it. UC Berkeley, for example, took out 130 rooms. Similar concerns also affected the housing market in Santa Barbara. More students are opting for fewer roommates to minimize the risk of infection, a choice that has left more of them scrambling for places to live, said Robin Unander, a UC Santa Barbara student legal services advisor. She added that an influx of people moving to scenic Santa Barbara while working remotely has squeezed the rental market even more. And more students seem to have delayed lining up fall housing, she said, in part because of uncertainty over whether the campus would return to in-person instruction as it announced in February. “There were just so many different things that culminated in a perfect storm,” Unander said. “I’ve been working with the university legal center for 18 years and I’ve never seen a housing crisis like this one.” Madeline Castro, a senior geology major at UC Santa Barbara, lives in a hotel. She says the isolation and distance from campus have been difficult. Another hardship, Unander said, was widespread housing scams aimed at desperate students. One student she counseled had to withdraw from school after losing $2,000 to a fraudster — all the money he had for a deposit and first month‘s rent.We’re offering L.A. Times subscribers first access to our best journalism. Thank you for your support. The scope and urgency of the situation led an Assembly subcommittee to hold an unusual hearing this week to address the student-housing shortage, an issue it does not usually take up as the state has not typically funded campus dorms. But Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, said increasing student housing was key to legislative goals to
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