With nine days left till the start of Fall Quarter 2021, UC Santa Barbara is moving forward with its plan to address the housing crisis by working with hotels to temporarily shelter unhoused students.
In an email sent to students on the university housing waitlist, the University & Community Housing Services described the hotel solution as a temporary, emergency solution only available during the upcoming fall quarter. The cost of accommodation at a hotel is the same as a university double, at $774 for 10 weeks.
The email stated that should a student living in a hotel be offered a university housing contract, they are required to accept the offer and move in within three to five days. The alternative would be to pay the full hotel price independently or find a different accommodation. Most hotel rooms are currently at double occupancy, and the full price would range between $114 to $229 a night.
Meal plans are not offered with the hotel accommodation and must be purchased through the school independently. Not every student applicant is guaranteed hotel accommodation, and the email said that offers will be made based on availability.
While the university continues to pursue emergency hotel housing, it has offered some undergraduate housing to graduate students in need of housing.
“First-year, transfer and graduate students beginning their first year of studies at UCSB in either Fall 2021 or Fall 2020 were given priority over continuing undergraduate and graduate students,” UCSB Deputy News Director Shelly Leachman said in a statement to the Nexus. “We have been working to maximize our own campus housing and were able to offer contracts to more than 600 students during the month of August.”
The Nexus will continue reporting on the housing shortage.
