Davisite Banner. Left side the bicycle obelisk at 3rd and University. Right side the trellis at the entrance to the Arboretum.

That housing deal among UCD, City of Davis, and Yolo County

To be sure, I am still learning about this "deal".  And I am willing to be enlightened.  So, my comments are preliminary….. but concerned.

It seems like the deal is totally future oriented.  That is, it takes a "go forth and sin no more" form of agreement i.e. it only pertains to the students who come to this area due to the (additional) incremental growth of the University.  That is often a good approach, sometimes makes it easier to come to an agreement.  Particularly if parties are inclined to maintain previously entrenched positions.  *

But how about the 20,000 "temporary occupants" who are already inhabiting Davis and nearby towns? By this I refer to undergraduates who should be housed on campus who currently live in the community and drive rental rates up and availability of housing down. I don't mind if grad students are living in the community, that's fine. It is not unusual for "adult learners" to continue to live in the communities that contain the university where they did their grad work.

But undergraduates?

We know that most of them are not going to stay in Davis after they graduate because, get this… THEY CAN'T AFFORD IT!

Seems like none of these people involved in this agreement "get it" regarding how so many people who live in Davis feel about the real estate distortions that have already impacted our town.  It seems to me that this "future responsibility" should have been Phase I of a multi-part agreement with the University that requires the University to fix the problem they caused through their long standing policy of abdicating responsibility for housing their own and make reparations for past/current sins of omission.  This fix would show a clear path from the development of on-campus housing to attainment of a reasonable apartment/housing vacancy rate in the City of Davis much closer to a "healthy level of occupancy".  

Just seems like we can do better……

John

*** Whether those previously entrenched positions have benefitted the people who live in Davis is a key question.

 

 

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