The unincorporated community of Isla Vista, California, is home to just 15,500 people, but its population density rivals that of Los Angeles. This small strip of coast boasts uninterrupted views of the Pacific — and some of the highest housing prices in the nation.
While the main University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) campus is to the east, Isla Vista is surrounded on three sides by university property governed by the Regents of the University of California. The student population shares densely packed housing with a mix of senior citizens and a working class Hispanic population. The inequitable division of land ownership between public and private entities has created severe housing challenges.
Isla Vista is now “the epicenter of our county’s housing crisis,” Second District Supervisor Laura Capps told the local NBC affiliate in November 2024. “Mass evictions, skyrocketing rents, and a high percentage of the population living below the poverty line underscore the need to make affordable and safe housing more plentiful in Isla Vista.” With the city and the university both struggling to keep pace with the demand for housing, students and community members are finding themselves at the center of the crisis.
These challenges stem from public-private partnerships that fail to adequately address housing needs, with minimal coordination, limited affordable housing provisions, and a lack of comprehensive planning that prioritizes community welfare. Contrasting development patterns between university-managed properties and those independently developed by private landowners contribute to the broader systemic issues that prevent effective community planning and resource allocation.
As an unincorporated community, Isla Vista is designated as a “community services district.” This means that only county funds are available for civic projects. Isla Vista residents’ need for social services and infrastructure consistently go unmet due to jurisdictional challenges and a lack of municipal funding from a specific city, the state of California, or the university.
Private leasing companies in Isla Vista have 1-bedroom apartments listed in the range of $3,390-$3,500 with a maximum occupancy of 2 tenants per unit. That is nearly three times what a full-time student working 20 hours per week at California’s minimum wage of $16.50 would earn — meaning that even those sharing a bedroom with another person would struggle immensely to find stable housing.
With average rents running higher than most students’ monthly incomes, students are left with little to nothing for essential expenses, such as food, healthcare, transportation, textbooks and other basic necessities. Issues of overcrowding and high-density living abound as students must cram multiple people into a one-bedroom apartment in order to be able to afford a roof over their heads.
In the absence of decisive housing initiatives from the university and a lack of civic clarity in regulating development, private developers predictably exploited the high demand for housing to maximize their profits. The resultant disparity between market-rate housing and what most students can reasonably afford highlights the fundamental flaws in relying on private development to fill the gaps in student housing needs. Unregulated private developers will always prioritize profit maximization at tenants’ expense. Knowing this, policymakers, universities and local governments must implement adequate affordability regulations or provide suitable housing alternatives to protect renters.
Without effective regulations or university intervention to establish reasonable pricing standards, private housing providers will continue to exploit the captive student market knowing that proximity to campus creates inescapable demand. This pattern demonstrates the need for stronger oversight mechanisms and proactive university involvement in housing development and management.
Addressing the housing crisis at UCSB, and in Isla Vista more broadly, requires a multi-pronged approach that tackles the systemic issues of underinvestment in university housing, unchecked market forces and reliance on private donors. While a recent settlement agreement between UCSB, the city and Santa Barbara County marks important progress, it represents just the beginning of necessary institutional change. Universities must recognize their responsibility to students—the very foundation of their institutions—and take concrete action to expand affordable housing options.
Local and state government officials in turn must carefully balance public and private development while implementing stronger market controls to prevent unchecked rent increases. Local governments must strengthen oversight of private developers and enforce existing regulations to protect vulnerable populations, particularly students and low-income residents who often lack the resources to advocate for themselves.
We stand at a critical juncture where policy innovation must be paired with robust accountability mechanisms that comprehensively apply to public governing bodies, private developers and landlords to effectively address the housing crisis. In 2025, NCRC will support legislation, rules and regulations tackling the nationwide housing shortage. This approach has the potential to transform communities by supplying economically viable home construction and renovation services.
Sadly, recent cuts to HUD funding and the termination of grant funding to fair housing organizations will severely weaken the enforcement infrastructure necessary for fair housing implementation. It is more critical than ever for fair housing organizations to process discrimination complaints, conduct thorough investigations and actively litigate violations to ensure the continued protection of fair housing rights.
While Isla Vista’s geography and civic situations are unusual, its atrocious outcomes on housing affordability are common to most sought-after residential zones nationwide. This quiet beachfront community offers an extreme example to be sure – but captive-audience renters around the country are falling through similar cracks between public policy and private development.
As housing insecurity worsens in Isla Vista and throughout the country, supporting local fair housing organizations and advocating for protective state and local ordinances represent a vital step forward. Your engagement, whether through financial contributions, volunteering or raising awareness, strengthens the organizations that enforce fair housing laws and empower vulnerable residents.
While recent funding cuts present significant obstacles, establishing an extensive community-based safety net ecosystem can help bridge these gaps and ensure that promising solutions to increase housing supply realize their full potential. By joining forces with tenant advocacy groups and pushing for stronger housing protections at the state and local level, we can build a more equitable housing landscape where public and private sectors collaborate effectively to serve all community members.
Victoria Hausch is the Fair and Equitable Opportunity Program Coordinator with NCRC’s Fair Housing & Fair Lending team
Photo by Ivan Samkov via Pexels.
