Construction Well Underway on New Student Housing at UC Santa Cruz

Article by Scott Hernandez-Jason

Committed to advancing student success, UC Santa Cruz leaders are confronting the ongoing housing crisis by providing immediate support programs for students while building new residential buildings to significantly increase the number of students who can live on campus.

In the decade ahead, UC Santa Cruz plans to move forward on a bold and ambitious path that will continue to increase the amount of housing for current and future students. There are two major projects already approved—one under construction and the other overcoming legal challenges in the courts—that will allow more current students to live on campus. UC Santa Cruz is also in the midst of creating a 10-year housing plan with a project ladder that at all times has projects in the planning, proposal or construction stage. This will allow UCSC to move on to another project if one is delayed and continuously deliver beds to meet its goals.

These bold future plans will build on the campus’s longstanding commitment to providing an on-campus residential experience for students. The campus currently provides housing for more than half of its undergraduates. While this is one of the highest percentages in the UC system, leaders say it is not high enough. Campus efforts to build more on-campus housing continue in earnest.

“Santa Cruz faces urgent housing challenges, and on-campus student housing is a critical need for our campus,” Chancellor Cynthia Larive said. “We are compelled to seize every opportunity to increase the amount of student housing we offer.”

Building on a founding commitment to housing

UC Santa Cruz was founded with the goal of providing a residential college experience for students through 10 colleges.

Over the past two decades, UC Santa Cruz has increased its student housing capacity by 3,300 beds through structural modifications, such as adding floors, major building redesigns and by increasing the density in residence halls. When construction finishes on a new residential building next academic year, the campus will have increased its housing capacity by 53 percent since the 2003–04 academic year.

Kresge renewal to add hundreds more beds

UC Santa Cruz is in the midst of a renewal project at Kresge College, which includes additional housing and academic space. The first phase will be completed next academic year with 400 new beds in a residential building that’s under construction. Phase 2 of the Kresge project is anticipated to add hundreds more new beds and open in fall 2025.

The UC Board of Regents approved both the Kresge College renewal and the Student Housing West project during its March 2019 meeting. While construction moved ahead at Kresge, Student Housing West has faced legal challenges that have gone against the needs and interests of students—building much-needed housing.