In the midst of a housing crisis, students may stress about securing housing in Isla Vista. With the average rent of a one-bedroom apartment in Isla Vista exceeding $2,000, some look to alternatives in the form of a housing cooperative. 

Each of the five houses has its own culture and theme. Biko has been known as a people of color-identifying house. Sara Stevens / Daily Nexus

The Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative (SBSHC) is a non-profit organization that aims to provide affordable housing to all students living in I.V. SBSHC houses students through their five houses: Biko, Dolores, Manley, Merton and Newman. 

Marcelino Sepulveda, SBSHC’s executive director, explained the cooperative is best for students looking to find community along with a place to live. 

“We’re a good fit for community-oriented students,” Sepulveda said. “Students who are looking for more than just a place to sleep, who value shared meals, collaboration, meaningful relationships and participating in community life.” 

In I.V.’s housing market, SBSHC works to keep member dues below the average local rental prices. According to Sepulveda, the co-op looks at multiple measures of affordability, including I.V. rents, UC Santa Barbara dorm rates and federal housing standards. He said member dues “average approximately 70% to 80% of comparable I.V. rental rates” and around “60% of UCSB dorm rates.” 

The co-op also keeps costs lower through flat-rate utilities, shared purchasing, general-use food funds, furnished common spaces and internal rent grants for members in financial need. Four of the co-op’s properties also have solar panels, with utility costs “socialized across all of the houses.” 

“We’re a nonprofit, which means that anything, any profit that is generated is invested back into the organization,” Sepulveda said. “Nobody is profiting off of it. So all of the benefits go back into the services that we provide.” 

Anbareen Schefa, SBSHC’s director of member services, explained that the co-op only has about 95 bed spaces, however they usually have the most availability during summer. She also emphasized that the co-ops only offer single or double spaces, in contrast to other properties that may advertise lower costs in exchange for overcrowded rooms. 

“It’s not like we’re just artificially deflating our rates by saying, ‘Okay now there’s 60 people in this house that’s meant for 20 people,’” Schefa said. But living in the co-ops also requires more participation than a traditional apartment. Sepulveda explained that members take on house roles such as treasurer, food shopper, maintenance manager, board representative, house president and chore manager. They also contribute to house meetings, community work days, shared meals and chore systems.

“This is what differentiates us from other housing providers,” Schefa said. “It’s actually baked into your lease that you need to take on a leadership position within your house — that you need to do chores [and] you’re gonna be attending house meetings.” 

The way the houses are governed also reflects this collective structure. SBSHC has a board of directors elected from within its membership. The board is responsible for setting the fiscal year budget, updating policies and signing financial statements. Schefa explained that “on a day-to-day level,” residents help manage the operations of their own homes. 

“When you move in, you’ll get elected into a role,” Schefa said. “Everybody does a little bit of something to keep things going. You can think of the phrase, ‘Many hands make light work.’” 

According to both directors, creating a sense of community is an important part of the co-op. Schefa lived in the co-ops from 2013 to 2017 and said she is still close with many of the people she met there. She currently still lives with the first roommate she was assigned to in the co-op, now over a decade later. 

“I’m still really close in community with a lot of the people I lived with,” Schefa said. “I think [that] is a testament to how close you can really become with people that you live with in the co-ops.” 

Each of the five houses has its own culture and theme. Merton is an interfaith-themed house, while Biko has been known as a people of color-identifying house. Staff emphasized that these identities developed through student leadership and the communities within each house but they are still open to all students.

Though each house has its own identity, Schefa described the co-op as an “interdependent community” rather than five disconnected spaces. Members collaborate across houses, and the organization is designed to keep the houses connected. 

Sepulveda emphasized the students who live in the co-ops see themselves as a “resource to the community at large.” He explained the origins of the co-op came from students demanding housing during the ‘70s. 

“I think the co-ops are a testament to the actual power that students do wield and that they do hold,” Sepulveda said. “We’ve grown from a handful of students who were visioning for something better, and we’ve housed thousands of students in those 50 years [since SBSHC’s creation].” 

A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the May 21print edition of the Daily Nexus.