UC Santa Cruz administration announced the development of a new Family Student Housing (FSH) complex in 2018. After pushing the project back repeatedly due to lawsuits and pandemic-exacerbated cost issues, they finally gave residents a move-in date of fall 2025. Then January 2026. And now, according to the most recent update from Colleges, Housing and Educational Services (CHES), residents will have to wait at least six more months.

The delay adds difficulty for residents already contending with the 30 percent rent hike that comes with their relocation from the current complex on Heller Drive to the new one on Hagar Drive.

Andrew Allio is one impacted resident. He was counting on enrolling his soon-to-be born daughter at the childcare center within the new complex. But, because the new center won’t open until at least the next school year, Allio, a history graduate student who lives in FSH with his wife and two-year-old son, must find an alternative. 

“We’re in this limbo and we’re planning on off-campus daycare as an option, which is wildly expensive — upwards of $2,500 a month — a significant chunk of my paycheck,” Allio said. 

Because of that price, Allio is considering taking a leave of absence to care for his daughter. “But that’s less than ideal,” he added. “This next year would be my last here, so we would be postponing everything to graduate, just to try and figure out where to put my child for the day.” 

The lack of clarity from CHES about the move-out date has also affected Kristen Nelson, a literature graduate student who got so sick from the mold in her apartment — which runs rampant across the current complex — that she was determined to be included in the first round of residents moved to the new site. 

Nelson canceled her winter break plans with her parents to prepare to move, but didn’t find out about the most recent delay until it was too late to rebook the vacation. The delay was the result of UCSC finding certain installed windows didn’t meet UC building standards during required inspections. 

“Construction paused to correct the issue rather than proceed with materials that did not meet requirements,” explained Erin Elliott, UCSC’s communications director for student success and campus climate, in an email to City on a Hill Press. 

Reducing the Population Through Attrition

As various factors postponed the relocation, graduating residents continued moving out of the current complex as usual. CHES refilled these empty spots at a slow pace, or not at all. As Andrew Allio pointed out, his apartment is surrounded on all sides by vacancies. What once felt to him like a small town of almost 200 families is no more.

According to an email from UCSC spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason, CHES is “gradually reducing the population through attrition” to match the reduced capacity of the new complex, which has nearly 80 fewer apartments than the current one.

In April 2025, around 60 units were vacant at the current complex, though residents anticipate that this number has increased since then. CHES did not provide an updated vacancy number when City on a Hill Press reached out for comment, although they confirmed that around 50 families remain on the FSH waitlist.

Across the FSH complex, families keep various play structures and toys outside their apartments for children to play with. Feb. 4, 2026.

Residents are frustrated that these families could not secure even a temporary spot at FSH, and remain in need of affordable housing in the least affordable rental markets in the country, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition

“They make it appear as though there’s a very short timeline and then they continue to extend it,” said FSH resident and politics graduate student Nate Edenhofer. “From the start, had they just let people move in, there’s a bunch of families that could have been living here for over two years before the move happens.”

Below Market Rate, but Still Rent Burdened

Residents have also been vocal about the new complex’s $2,500 rent, which is nearly $600 more than their current rate. 

Matthew Smith is a former FSH resident who left UCSC partially because he could not afford this anticipated increase. Other FSH families have moved away after graduation to areas with lower living costs. 

Several workers operate various construction vehicles on the outskirts of the FSH construction site next to Coolidge Drive. Feb. 2, 2026.

In an email to City on a Hill Press, Erin Elliott said that the new rate was “informed by local rental market conditions as well as housing rates across the UC system, with adjustments based on operating costs, maintenance needs and affordability considerations.”

The new apartments are generally cheaper than similar off-campus options. However, the average teaching assistant spends more than 60 percent of their monthly income on a rate of $2,500, according to salary figures from the United Auto Workers Union Local 4811 who represent academic student employees. FSH residents also set aside a significant portion of this income to care for their families, and sometimes rely on a single income to support a family of three or four.

“The university knows exactly how much money I make,” Kristen Nelson said. “They know that I’m rent-burdened, and they still continue to increase our rent, and not our salaries. They know exactly the conditions that we’re living in.”

Community Effort

Residents have had several meetings with CHES staff over the past year, who granted them flexibility with their move-in date upon completion, as well as moving trucks and boxes. They are still advocating for a $200 rent decrease, plus waitlist transparency and financial assistance with moving that mirrors efforts at the UC Davis family housing facility. 

They hope to use the next six months to push for clearer communication and more productive conversations with CHES, so that these demands can be addressed and tenants are able to maintain the community they’ve fostered at FSH.

Two community members inspect boxes of cake mix at a food pantry hosted by FSH. The complex holds two monthly pantries on the first and third Wednesdays of the month in the FSH community room, open to all Santa Cruz residents. Feb. 4, 2026.

“I’m surrounded by people who care for me, my family and my child, who are like secondary parents in a sense,” Andrew Allio said of his time at the complex.

“It’s just a special place to be,” Allio continued, “So it’s a shame that it’s not getting the love, funding, respect and attention it deserves from the university.”

Additional Reporting by Naomi Schulze.