Quick Take
The opening of UC Santa Cruz’s new family student housing complex, which includes 120 two-bedroom units and an expanded child care center, has been delayed by about six months due to construction issues, university officials said. Student families say the repeated delays are disrupting housing and child care plans and straining household budgets as they wait for the long-anticipated move.
The opening date for UC Santa Cruz’s new family student housing facility, which will have 120 two-bedroom units, has been delayed by about six months due to construction issues, university officials recently told Lookout.
Students living in the existing family housing at UCSC say that multiple delays of the new facility and child care center complicate their planning and impact their budgets.
A resident and advocate for fellow residents, Aron Chang, said student-families first expected to move in in December, then March and now not until fall at least. He and his wife also hoped to enroll their infant son in the new facility’s child care center – which is subsidized – but that was delayed, too.
“Planning to move your entire household is a big deal,” said Chang. “And the uncertainty makes it incredibly hard to plan your life.”
The new Family Student Housing complex is located on the southern corner of the East Meadow. It will replace the existing complex, which is located on Heller Drive, and which has about 196 units. The new facility’s child care center is about double the size of the existing center, and will serve up to 140 children of faculty, staff and students. UCSC broke ground on the new facility in summer 2024.
Residents have mixed feelings about the new facility. Many in the current complex have for years complained of mold and respiratory issues that they say the university has failed to address, while at the same time rents have gone up. The multiple delays for the new facility add to their long list of concerns.
UCSC spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason told Lookout via email that the university anticipates opening the child care center in the summer but did not provide a new opening date for the new housing complex. Officials told residents last week that they will remain in the existing housing complex through the summer.
Hernandez-Jason said UCSC had to delay the opening because “the windows within the complex did not meet [University of California] building standards and needed to be replaced.”
He didn’t clarify when the university expects to have an opening date for the new family student housing facility.
Chang and his wife, doctoral student Alex Stokes, moved into family student housing in 2023. Stokes is studying education and expects to finish her degree in three to four years, so they’re planning to move into the new facility.
“Because the new daycare isn’t open, it means significantly higher child care costs for us for the next few months,” said Chang. “That’s four more months of paying out of pocket.”
Chang and Stokes pay about $2,500 a month for part-time care for their 7-month-old son. They get fully subsidized care from the university’s current child care center for their 3½-year-old daughter. Chang says the current center serves only children 11 months and older but the new one will care for children as young as 4 months.
He and other residents have been urging the university to reverse a rent hike once the students move into the new facility. Currently, many residents pay about $1,950 per month, but when they move into the new housing, rent will be around $2,500 per month.
FOR THE RECORD: This story was corrected to clarify the new childcare center’s age range for services.
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