New laws aim to ease California’s student housing crunch

Alarmed by expensive housing that drives up the cost of college degrees and leaves some students struggling to make rent, California campuses have tried everything from factory-built dormitories to a pilot program that lets students safely sleep in their cars.

Now, a package of laws by state legislators seeks to make it faster to build housing around public colleges and universities by tinkering with land use rules. Proponents hope to encourage community colleges that haven’t previously ventured into housing to dip a toe in the water. And the measures could give higher education new leverage over skeptical neighbors and city governments in the sometimes contentious question of where to house students.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed all three student housing-related bills. Among them, Assembly Bill 648 clarifies that community colleges can build student housing on land they own or lease within a half-mile radius of campuses, no matter local zoning, while Assembly Bill 357 aims to ease aspects of building on college campuses in coastal areas. The most ambitious of the trio, Assembly Bill 893, looks to spur private residential development around public colleges and universities.

“Students are living in overcrowded conditions. They’re living out of their cars. They’re in shelters, all while they’re just trying to make a living, advance their career, set themselves up for success,” said Kate Rodgers, co-chair of the Student HOMES Coalition, which worked to draft all three bills. “I think we’re really failing them if we’re allowing this to keep happening.”

The legislative package, backed by pro-housing groups and colleges, is poised to strengthen the hand of colleges and, in some cases, private developers by reducing some of the government approvals typically needed for new construction.

The student housing measures come as California legislators have increasingly sought to trim red tape they say is partially to blame for the state’s gaping overall housing shortage. That includes the passage this spring of landmark state legislation expected to shield most new urban apartment buildings from the California Environmental Quality Act.

The student housing bills faced a smattering of opposition, including from municipalities and environmental groups. “We hear a lot of gripes from local communities when Sacramento comes in and imposes their point of view and decision on a neighborhood without proper input,” said Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, explaining at an Assembly hearing why he opposed AB 648. “There’s a reason why housing decisions are best made at the local level.”

The campus housing crunch has at times driven a vexing wedge between California colleges and their surrounding communities. At UC Berkeley, some neighbors, citing worries about noise from student revelry, filed litigation that delayed new university housing. Santa Barbara County and the city of Goleta have each sued the university, alleging it failed to build enough student housing to meet enrollment growth. Many UC Santa Barbara students live off campus in the Isla Vista neighborhood, which is notorious for large street parties.

Student housing advocates are optimistic that incentivizing new construction could benefit students as well as their neighbors by reducing competition for scarce rentals. “It’s better for student relations with the community when you’re not having to fight with locals over housing, and you can actually live on campus or near campus,” said Mike Borisov, a recent graduate of UC San Diego who has worked with the Student HOMES Coalition. “That relieves pressure off the housing market.”

Supporters of the student housing package said the bills aren’t a cure-all, but could help students who might otherwise struggle to afford rent on top of tuition.

“Any housing that’s deed-restricted for affordable housing is a help and a win to our whole system,” said Jonathan White, the chief real estate officer of Fremont-based Abode Housing Development, a nonprofit that builds supportive housing for the formerly homeless and a supporter of AB 893. “And every bit is needed.”

AB 893: Creating ‘campus development zones’

Only a small portion of students at California’s public colleges and universities live on campus. About 41% of UC students, 14% of CSU students, and less than 1% of community college students have on-campus housing, leaving the rest living at home with family or seeking other off-campus housing arrangements.

AB 893 meets that reality with measures intended to jump-start market-rate and affordable housing construction on commercially zoned properties near college campuses. It avoids residential areas — and the risks of displacing locals that currently live in them — while including units for non-students.

Authored by Assemblymember Mike Fong, D-Alhambra, the new law creates so-called campus development zones within a half-mile radius of the main campus of any University of California, California State University, or those in the California Community Colleges system. Private housing developments within the new zones can now become eligible for streamlined local government reviews, provided that a share of rentals are reserved for low-income residents, including potentially students, faculty, or staff experiencing homelessness. They must also meet other development standards.

Rodgers, a recent graduate of UCLA, said she had the Westwood neighborhood surrounding the campus in mind while working on the bill.

“If you walk around Westwood, you see lots of one-story commercial spaces and restaurants,” she said. “And for a housing nerd like myself, I can’t really help but think, ‘What if this was all mixed use?’”

Her group’s analysis of zoning around college campuses suggests that Berkeley and San Diego are other cities where a significant number of commercial properties could be eligible for AB 893, she added.

The bill also takes a crack at addressing another problem. Students might not qualify for affordable apartments built with the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, the most important federal tool to encourage the construction of affordable housing. By contrast, students would be able to rent income-restricted units in projects built under AB 893 based on their eligibility for Cal Grant A or Cal Grant B awards, the California College Promise Grant, or the federal Pell Grant.

AB 648: Clearing hurdles to housing at community colleges

Most California community colleges don’t offer housing. But a growing awareness of how many community college students don’t have a safe or stable place to live is prompting some to reexamine that stance.

The Los Angeles Community College District is among those that have come to view housing as essential to students’ basic needs and academic success, said Sara Hernandez, vice president of the district’s board of trustees.

“If people can’t afford to live in Los Angeles, they’re not going to be able to afford to live to go to school in Los Angeles,” Hernandez said. “And so we’ve really found that it is in our best interest as a community college district to really find some solutions for our students who need housing the most.”

Enter AB 648, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2026. The bill ensures community colleges are authorized to build housing for students, faculty and staff on property they own or lease within a half-mile radius of their campuses without being required to comply with local zoning.

The Los Angeles district is exploring new possibilities for student housing, like buying existing buildings or constructing on-campus units through a public-private partnership. Hernandez said it’s not yet clear how AB 648 will influence its plans, since its campuses span local jurisdictions with different approaches to reviewing developments.

“It really depends on which community and which geographic area you’re in,” Hernandez said. “And so I imagine that there’s going to be a lot of community colleges where this will be really helpful.”

AB 357: Changes for colleges in coastal zones

What do Cuesta College, Pepperdine University and UC San Diego all have in common? They’re all at least partially located in the coastal zone, the area anywhere from 1,000 yards to 5 miles inland where the California Coastal Commission controls construction.

The commission got on some student housing advocates’ radar after UC Santa Barbara had to seek commission approval for its San Benito housing project, which replaced a previous design criticized for its lack of windows. Politicians in both major parties have voiced support for relaxing constraints on coastal homebuilding that require the commission’s go-ahead.

“The goal is not to bypass environmental safeguards, but to create smart streamlined pathways to meet urgent student needs while respecting California’s coastal values,” Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-San Diego, said as he presented AB 357 at an April hearing.

The bill tries to accelerate commission reviews when colleges amend existing development plans. It also requires the commission to defer to colleges and universities regarding how much parking is needed for student housing.

With AB 357 in place, Rodgers is hopeful future university housing will follow in the footsteps of the San Benito project, which the commission approved this spring. San Benito is proof that the commission “can approve these projects on a faster timeline without sacrificing those critical environmental protections that we have under the Coastal Act,” she said.