This week, Sen. John Laird (D – Santa Cruz) announced the Cabrillo College — UC Santa Cruz student housing project, selected in the 2023-2024 round of the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program will be fully supported — included in a budget trailer bill passed by the Senate and sent to the governor.
Sen. John Laird
Cabrillo College had sought a $111 million state grant to fund construction costs for its project with UC Santa Cruz estimated to cost $181.7 million.
The project was in limbo at the end of June after Gov. Newsom, facing a state budget deficit of $31.5 billion, switched the grants to a bond program where colleges could borrow money.
Details of the legislative fix were not available.
With this funding, groundbreaking next to the softball field is expected in September 2024, and once completed in fall 2026, the campus will have a multi-story building with 624 beds, 376 reserved for Cabrillo students, and 248 for UCSC students.
This is one of three joint student housing projects between the University of California and California Community Colleges — the first such partnership between these educational institutions in state history.
“We are grateful that local legislators and the Governor have come to a historic agreement to fund our collaborative housing project for local college students,” said Cabrillo College President Matt Wetstein. ”This is a game changer for our students, 20% of whom are homeless. With this infusion of revenue bond funds from the University of California, we’ll be able to house our most needy students, accelerate their completion, and secure transfer opportunities for them at a world-class university.”
Laird expects this project will become a model for higher education systems to work collaboratively toward solving the all too serious and increasingly common issue of student homelessness.
Rendering of proposed housing facility near at the edge of Cabrillo College in Aptos.
“I hear on a daily basis from my constituents about the hardships they face when it comes to housing in Santa Cruz County,” Laird said. “Students are having to make really difficult choices about how or if they can continue their education in our community. That is why I have been dogged in ensuring the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program was supported in a way that recognizes the economic burdens countless students face in not only our region, but California as a whole.”
UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive said, “Affordable and reliable university housing is critical in helping students successfully earn a UC Santa Cruz degree. We deeply appreciate the support of Senator Laird and other California lawmakers in helping us increase educational access by building more student housing.”
Laird represents the 17th State Senate District, which includes all of Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties, the majority of Monterey County, as well as parts of Santa Clara County.
He is a UCSC graduate who was elected to the Santa Cruz City Council three times, serving from 1981-1990. He was mayor twice, one of the first openly gay mayors in the U.S. Then he was elected twice to the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees, serving from 1994 to 2002. In 2002, he was elected to the State Assembly to represent the 27th District, portions of Monterey, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, and was reelected in 2004 and 2006 — the maximum three terms.
He was secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency from Jan. 5, 2011 until Jan. 7, 2019. He won election to the State Senate on Nov. 3, 2020.