San Mateo community college district breaks ground on student housing development

The San Mateo County Community College District has committed itself to providing a high-quality education to everyone, regardless of income, background or ZIP code, board Vice President Richard Holober said Monday. The latest effort in this ongoing battle is providing housing for students. 

“We have learned that access to education does not begin just at the classroom door, it begins with stability,” Holober said. “In one of the most expensive regions of the country, in a state that is grappling with a housing crisis, housing insecurity has become one of the single greatest barriers to students’ success.” 

The 316-complex is the district’s response to student needs, Holober said. It’s only scratching the surface though, Chancellor Melissa Moreno said. 

The project meets one-third of the demand for student housing in the district, she said. 

Of the 116 community colleges in California, only 16 currently offer on-campus student housing, and while many understand the district to offer commuter schools, the amount of students enrolled that are unhoused or housing insecure are too many to ignore. 

“When you have 1,500 unhoused students and many more housing insecure, we reframed this from housing as a perk to housing as a necessity,” Moreno said. 

The housing is intended for low-income and housing insecure students, who must be enrolled in full-time courses with the anticipation of graduating within two years to qualify. The $86 million development was largely funded through a $67 million state award and $19 million from district funds. The “debt-free” project will also be fiscally self-sustaining, Moreno said, with below-market rents largely between $500 and $1,000 a month. 

Student housing will provide another level of support that builds on the district’s mission of making higher education accessible, including the Free College initiative — which is under consideration of being made permanent. 

“This day is really about opportunity, it’s another rung in the ladder of opportunity we’re building here,” state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, said. “Like free college, affordable housing lets folks who never imagined that college could be in their future, it lets them imagine it and make it a reality.” 

The housing site will include community kitchens, laundry facilities, study rooms, academic and health counseling offices, a basic needs food pantry, and diverse shared and individual study areas. It will also feature two courtyards. 

The development invigorates a parking lot, similar to how it did more than 20 years ago. In 2005, College Vista was built at the College of San Mateo, establishing the first ever workforce housing developed by a community college district in California. 

Workforce housing has since been established at both Cañada College and Skyline College. 

The student housing development is estimated to be under construction until March 2028. Student move-in is intended for summer 2028. 

“This is the first student housing project in our over 100-year history, and we hope there will be a second and a third to have housing on all three campuses,” Moreno said.