It’s interesting to me that in all the talk of the housing crisis, there has been little to no mention of the impacts of student housing in Santa Barbara and Goleta.
UCSB and City College have enjoyed unrestricted growth, recruiting more students every year. Developers have “converted” more apartment complexes, and former single-family homes, into student housing, charging by the bed and cramming two to three students per room.
Typically, 80 percent of students enrolled in a university live off-campus. They can’t all fit in Isla Vista, so the overflow consumes an inordinate amount of the housing stock once available for workforce housing in Goleta and Santa Barbara.
Increases in enrollment and conversion of rentals to student housing drive up rental costs and create scenarios where overcrowding, excessive noise, and parking issues degrade the quality of life for non-student populations.
Maybe it’s time for caps on student populations at UCSB and City College.
