Zoe Herrara is a senior at Cal, and the start of school makes her think back to her first year. As a Central Valley transfer student she would have to drive hours to get to Berkeley.
"Commuting just wasn't an option for me."
But — less than a month before classes started — Herrara found out that she wouldn’t be able to live on campus.
"I kind of just had to find the quickest, also cheapest, because I am a low income student, option."
And that ended up being an attic, shared with 4 other male students.
"I really struggled mentally … and I sometimes didn't even want to go home because I just didn't feel comfortable."
Ahmed Fuwad is an international student from India starting his first year. He tried to find housing in Berkeley, but nothing was in his budget, so he’s living in Richmond.
" I want to experience campus life. I, I, I mean, I'm not here just to attend a few classes and go back."
So why are these students struggling to find housing? I spoke to Muhammad Alameldin, a policy associate at UC Berkeley's Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
"When it comes to housing in college towns, it's really up to the university but also the city that surrounds it … there's only so much land that the university owns and can build on. We haven't built enough housing in Berkeley."
He explains that for the longest time, many Berkeley residents actually didn't want more housing.
"Housing was seen as environmental degradation, others as a way to exclude, um, people of color from their neighborhoods. Others just don't like their neighborhoods changing, uh, there are a variety of reasons."
But since the last financial crisis and the pandemic, even locals have been struggling to find or keep their homes. Housing has become an election issue in Berkeley's mayoral race, and so Alameldin is hopeful that this trend is reversing.
"They reformed city council seats, so there's more of a student representative that could represent at the city level. They're adopting a missing middle housing ordinance, possibly. They're increasing renter protections. They're building more housing across downtown, across District … the last few years has been a remarkable progress. It doesn't even seem like the same city as it was a few years ago, right?"
Herrera was eventually offered a dorm the next year and it's made a difference for her mental health and academics.
"It's really just been great to not have to worry about where you're going to live and if you feel safe sleeping and getting the rest you need to be a successful student at a place like Berkeley."