Response to Davis Enterprise Article on December 6, 2023: “City, County, UCD Gather for Annual Meeting.”
December 08, 2023
By Greg Rowe
A recent Davis Enterprise article described the annual meeting of the Davis City Council, Yolo County District 2 and 4 Supervisors and UC Davis administrators, held on December 5. UCD’s on-campus student housing construction program since 2018 was glowingly portrayed by the university representatives. The reality is that UCD had for years resisted building an adequate supply of on-campus housing to meet the needs of its continued enrollment growth, and literally had to be dragged kicking and screaming into agreeing to finally address the problem.
Evidently forgotten amid UCD’s self-congratulatory presentation were the herculean exertions between 2015 and 2018 by a small alliance of dedicated citizens who committed countless hours working toward the goal of convincing UCD to address its student housing needs in a meaningful way. Those efforts focused on educating the Davis City Council and the Yolo County Board of Supervisors about UCD’s long-standing failure to provide on-campus student housing on pace with escalating enrollment, and the resulting negative community impacts. The group wrote countless articles, letters and a comprehensive “white paper,” met with UCD planners and elected officials, spoke at meetings of the UC Board of Regents, and documented the superior student housing accomplishments at other UC campuses.
Early drafts of UCD’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) proposed to only marginally increase the percentage of students living in campus residence halls between 2018 and 2030. The university’s initial intent was to simply redevelop existing campus housing rather than aggressively increasing bed capacity with new construction.
It also appeared that UCD intended to dodge its housing responsibilities by continuing to “master lease” apartment complexes in Davis for exclusive occupancy by UCD students. This “band aid” approach meant fewer apartments were available to workforce families. It also allowed apartment owners to avoid paying property taxes because the lessee, UCD, is tax-exempt.
In response to the LRDP’s shortcomings identified by the citizens’ group, in late 2016 the Davis City Council adopted a resolution calling upon UCD to provide on-campus housing for a minimum of 100% of projected enrollment growth between 2018 and 2030, and to accommodate 50% of total enrollment on campus during the term of the LRDP. The Yolano Group of the Sierra Club’s Mother Lode Chapter followed up with a 3-page letter to UCD, titled “The Imperative and Urgent Need for More On-Campus Housing at UC Davis.” At the urging of the citizens group, in 2017 the ASUCD Senate and Yolo County Board of Supervisors adopted resolutions similar to the one earlier passed by the Davis City Council.
UCD asked the Regents to approve the LRDP in July 2018, but the City and County requested a delay to allow further negotiations with UCD, and indicated that litigation may result if the Regents did not defer its decision. The result was a revised LRDP that commits UCD to provide on-campus housing for 100% of anticipated enrollment growth during the term of the LRDP, and 48% of total enrollment by the 2030-31 academic year.
These terms, along with other conditions, were memorialized in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) executed among the City, County and UCD in September 2018. Unfortunately, the LRDP and the MOU did not include provisions for UCD to make up for past housing shortfalls. Due to underbuilding and enrollment growth that surpassed projections, UCD provided about 1400 fewer on-campus beds than was assumed in its 2003 LRDP. Likewise, the university produced about 1800 fewer beds than articulated in a report issued in November 2002 by the Board of Regents, titled UC Housing for the 21st Century. The bottom line is that UCD fell between 1400 and 1800 beds short of its housing goals, and has not committed to making up for that deficit.
Going forward, it is hoped that the community remembers that the improved LRDP and MOU would not have happened had a small and dedicated group of civic minded people not alerted the City and County to the problem. Continued vigilance will be needed to ensure that UCD does not again backslide on its responsibilities and commitments.
A perfect summation of the recent history, Greg—and he is the true expert on UCD’s long history of on-campus student housing neglect. And, as he says, we need to watch both UCD and our City Council very carefully to protect the limited gains we made in the last few years.
Posted by: Dan Cornford | December 08, 2023 at 05:57 PM
Gary May's domain,
Housing woes in Davis strain,
Rent sighs, students wane.
(haiku)
Posted by: Alan C. Miller | December 08, 2023 at 10:47 PM
A few more (haiku):
May's helm, Davis strains,
Housing cries in student's pains,
Rent's burden remains.
May's sway, Davis plight,
Housing scant, rent's soaring height,
Students bear the fight.
May's tenure shadowed,
Davis yearns for homes hallowed,
Rent's toll leaves hearts sallowed.
Posted by: Alan C. Miller | December 08, 2023 at 10:52 PM
I join Greg in thanking a small group of brave intrepid citizens in pushing UCD to take action. It is regretful that it takes so much effort to get some amount of change.
UCD's lack of real results and units are a burden on all the renters in the city because UCD is not doing enough to provide price and market competition to market rate rentals within the city.
UCD's stance is support for the continued overpayment of rent by thousands of UCD students and Davis residents.
David J Thompson, my own opinions and not representative of Neighborhood Partners, LLC or Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation.
Posted by: David J Thompson | December 09, 2023 at 12:56 PM