Tuition at University of California, Berkeley comes in at less than $18,000 per year—cheaper than many other U.S. institutions of higher education. But the cost of finding a place to live in this leafy yet tightly packed college town is another story.
Across California, students desperate for stable housing are resorting to sleeping in cars, trailers, inexpensive hotels or moving back home with parents.
Recently, Gavin Newsom signed a series of bills aimed at encouraging more student housing by using the same policy tools that cities are applying to ease affordability pressure. The goal: override restrictive local zoning and land-use rules that have long blocked housing near public colleges and universities. cal.streetsblog.org+1
In the areas around major campuses, rents have climbed about 30 % since 2018. Meanwhile, the California Student Aid Commission estimates that over 400,000 students statewide lack stable housing each year. CoStar
These new policy changes arrive as cities throughout the state are required to plan for millions of additional units by decade’s end—attempts to boost affordability and keep residents from being priced out.
How the laws work
One of the most significant pieces, Assembly Bill 893, streamlines development of private mixed-income and affordable housing in “campus development zones” within a half-mile of colleges. CoStar+1
Another bill, Assembly Bill 357, removes some of the extra layers of approval for housing near coastal institutions such as University of California, Santa Barbara and University of California, San Diego—that historically faced delays because of oversight by the California Coastal Commission.
Community college students are also a focus. With only 14 out of California’s 116 community colleges offering housing, a 2023 report by the Community College League of California found that 25 % of these students experienced homelessness during the academic year.
Real-world pressure
Kate Rodgers, a recent graduate of University of California, Los Angeles and co-chair of the Student Homes Coalition, became invested in student housing activism when she realized affordability discussions rarely addressed the housing issue. Even with family support she carried stress from housing costs—including paying $6,000 per month for a three-bedroom home in West Los Angeles.
More than 30,000 students in the University of California and California State University systems are on waiting lists each year for campus housing.
Some campuses are experimenting with new models. For instance, University of California, Riverside opened a 429-unit complex with 1,568 beds, serving students from both UC Riverside and the nearby community college district—a pioneering “inter-segmental” student housing project in the U.S.
And in Berkeley, an iconic site—Amoeba Music’s flagship store on Telegraph Avenue—is being paired with a developer to build student apartments above it. At UC Berkeley, only about 22 % of its more than 45,000 students are housed on or near campus, the lowest ratio in the UC system.
If you’d like a breakdown of how these laws impact real-estate invest