Students are demanding better living conditions in the residence halls
When first year student Ysabela Philip ‘27 accepted an offer of housing in Unit 3, she knew not to expect luxury accommodations, having heard about the “notoriously bad” conditions in UC Berkeley’s aging residence halls. But she was unprepared for the extent of the dysfunction – no hot water, moldy showers, toilets that didn’t flush fully and a broken heater.
After filing maintenance requests that went unfulfilled, she began investigating and learned that serious habitability issues have persisted for years in Cal’s freshman dorms. Even more alarming, some of the deficiencies relate directly to safety, like emergency medical supplies and fire suppression equipment. For example, the “emergency overdose” canisters on the ground floors of her Unit’s buildings were empty for most of the year — stocked with Narcan only after the tragic student death at Clark Kerr in February 2024.
Parents of first year students go through the same learning process. Perusing the UC Berkeley parents Facebook group reveals multiple posts from the ‘23-’24 academic year about substandard housing conditions – with experienced parents responding along the lines of My son slept in his coat all winter, there was never heat and The RA said it was a “tradition” for kids on their floor to go to another floor for a hot shower. One parent posted a video of loud clanking noises emanating from her son’s Clark Kerr heater – during finals week.
Encouraged by Susan Reese ‘26, who had endured the same conditions in Unit 3, Ysabela and Susan founded the University Housing Rights Organization (UHRO) on the premise that “students should have a secure and comfortable place to live in order to achieve their full academic potential.” The club’s mission is to serve as a resource for students, educating them about their legal rights as tenants and helping them with the process of filing maintenance requests and if necessary escalating complaints to housing administrators. In future, the group plans to call upon the university to provide long term solutions. 🔥🔥
Dilapidated bathroom in Unit 1, closed for 2 months
SafeBears is incredibly impressed with Ysabela and her fellow UHRO officers for stepping up to address what has been a long standing and seemingly intractable problem. Their goal of bettering student living conditions overlaps with SafeBears’ mission to improve student safety. Students and parents can get in touch with the University Housing Rights Organization here. (And, if any parents would like to spearhead a SafeBears residential hall safety working group to complement UHRO’s efforts, please contact us!)
What follows is our interview with Ysabela, lightly edited for length and clarity. (By the way, as of this writing, Ysabela’s heater still does not function properly. She does have hot water – for now.)
What are the most pressing issues that need to be addressed with Cal student housing?
In my mind, maintenance concerns like lack of heat and hot water are pressing, but even more pressing are those that pertain to life and death. A student in my building was in need of an Automated External Defibrillator, and when paramedics came there was no AED to be found. Also, on the bottom floor of each Unit 3 building there are red metal canisters labeled “Emergency Overdose” but the canisters were empty for most of the year. After the overdose death of a student at Clark Kerr, Narcan suddenly showed up, but its availability wasn’t advertised.
Last year (‘22-’23), there was a fire in one of the buildings, and the fire extinguisher tags had a date last checked in 2007. We have no fire hoses in the building, and the standpipes have tags that state the last check was 2007 as well. I have tried to contact housing and fire officials about this matter, and have been met with either no response, or reassurance that they have been checked, with no proof. Regardless of if they had been checked, I and many other residents of Unit 3 do not have faith in the safety aspects of our buildings. If there was a fire or medical emergency, I do not have confidence that the proper protocols and equipment are in place to keep students safe. I am seeking a change to these problems, before it is too late.
Has the administration been responsive to your demands?
In short, no. I have reached out to administration, from my RAs and building managers all the way up to the Vice Chancellors responsible for student affairs. Some of the issues such as the lack of hot water have been fixed, but most have not been. I have either received no response, or promises to look into the issue with no resolution. I know this is not the first time they have heard these complaints, and their strategy is to push off a response until the end of this school year when I no longer have a reason to care. Their remissness in this matter has given me even more motivation to not give up on pursuing the best interests of students in the residence halls. (SafeBears’ contact list of university administrators, including those responsible for student housing, is here.)
Are all of these issues the responsibility of the UC Berkeley administration, or are some the responsibility of the City of Berkeley?
It would seem to me that they should be a shared responsibility, the city holding the school accountable. Since UC Berkeley is owned by the state, it technically does not fall under city jurisdiction, and the residence halls slip through the cracks. It does not seem right that we are not entitled to live in a place that is up to city code just because we are owned by the state.
Has the City of Berkeley been responsive to your efforts?
After running into deadends with housing officials at Cal, I turned to the city of Berkeley. Many of the issues I was experiencing were against the city code, which I hoped would motivate the school to fix the code violations. My friend who lived in Unit 3 last year had requested an inspector, and he found 18 code violations, most of which were on all 8 floors of her building. However, when my inspector came, who happened to be the same one my friend had last year, he told me that he was not sure he could do anything about whatever issues he found, as the university was state property and therefore out of his jurisdiction. It turns out, my friend's case from earlier this year had also been rejected by his supervisor. When I asked who was in charge of enforcing building safety if the city was not, he had no answers for me.
You’re asking UC Berkeley to refund some of the payments Cal families make for student housing. Can you go into that a bit?
In my housing contract it states that, "Maintenance is included in your housing contract. When you need something repaired, submit a work order or Maintenance Request" (quoted from housing.berkeley.edu). I do not think that maintenance clause has been honored, especially for the amount of money I pay to live in a triple in the oldest dorm on campus. The maintenance I have requested has either not been followed through, or I have had to demand it to be fixed. Either way, the university has not held up their end of the contract, and consequently, the price I agreed to pay is null and void.
How can Cal parents support your efforts?
We need more attention to these issues. Students are oftentimes too busy to want to get involved in housing rights, but the movement needs numbers. On our organization’s website we are publishing a list of people to email about these issues. Reach out to your Bears, find out if they are experiencing some of these maintenance issues, and encourage them to submit maintenance requests. The more voices calling for change, the less the administration can ignore our concerns. (Get in touch with UHRO here.)
