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Editorial: UCLA’s historic housing guarantee needs to be extended to graduate students

By Editorial Board

April 13, 2022 10:17 p.m.

Editor’s note: Editorials are intended to serve as the jumping-off point, not the conclusion, to discussion. As part of the Daily Bruin’s commitment to its readers, the board hopes to present a responsible and clear analysis of relevant events and news items affecting the lives of those we serve, but our editorials are not representative of the Daily Bruin’s views on issues as a whole. We encourage all readers to reach out to our board members and to respond to our editorials.

UCLA has once again made the news.

And this time, it’s for something good.

In March, the university announced that, beginning fall 2022, it will offer four years of guaranteed housing for all incoming undergraduate freshmen and two years of guaranteed housing for transfer students.

This historic move of guaranteeing housing has not been accomplished by any other school in the University of California, though there is a systemwide housing crunch that places many students in precarious situations.

At the beginning of the academic year, UC Santa Barbara witnessed an unprecedented housing shortage. It placed more than 1,000 students on a waiting list for university housing, leaving administrators to desperately ask faculty members if they could rent out unused rooms.

This all culminated in a proposed plan for an 11-story dormitory made of mostly windowless rooms that would collectively house 4,500 students. However, this plan drew the ire of many, including Dennis McFadden, a former member of UCSB’s design review committee. McFadden ended up resigning over the proposed building, which he described in a Los Angeles Times op-ed as “an alien and destructive presence.”

The housing situation in UC Berkeley is equally dire. In the fall, the university reported that 40% of undergraduates could not live in Berkeley because of high rents and a low supply of affordable housing. The school also had to reject more than 5,500 requests for university housing.

It’s an understatement to say UCLA’s announcement of guaranteed housing is a welcome step. The board applauds the university for prioritizing students’ housing needs and hopes UCLA’s housing guarantee will encourage other higher education institutions to implement something similar.

That being said, the university’s work is far from over.

Currently, graduate and professional students, who make up about one-third of UCLA’s student body, are not guaranteed housing. But they need it no less than undergraduates. According to a press release from United Auto Workers Local 2865, the majority of academic student employees and postdoctoral students spend at least one-third of their wages on housing.

This board has previously urged the UC to reduce the rent burden on graduate students. Current wages fail to accommodate astronomical housing prices, especially since insecure living conditions disproportionately affect student workers of color, those with disabilities and those from low-income households.

UCLA can and should make it a priority to guarantee housing for all of its graduate students. The newly completed Gayley Heights apartment complex and Olympic Hall show the university has the resources and initiative to continue building more housing units. If there is little space on or near campus, UCLA can expand existing affordable housing projects, such as The Boulevard Apartments on Santa Monica Boulevard, or develop new ones close to campus.

UCLA has achieved a great milestone in student housing. Now it’s time to go even further.

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