UC Berkeley Says Supportive Housing ‘Inseparable’ Part of People’s Park Project

The affordable housing portion of the University of California, Berkeley’s plan to build new housing in People’s Park still has no developer after the former developer walked out last year, reports Adhiti Bandlamudi for KQED.

“Resources for Community Development (RCD) left the project just months after an appellate court ruled UC Berkeley couldn’t move forward with construction until it evaluated other possible development sites and assessed potential noise impacts to students and other neighbors as part of its environmental review.” The decision came after a 2021 lawsuit that argued new housing would bring noise pollution that was not accounted for in the environmental review.

According to the article, “UC Berkeley is steadfast in its plan to build the 1,100-unit student housing and 125-unit supportive housing project. The university plans to develop the student housing itself. As for the supportive housing, it plans to offer the land, worth millions of dollars, to a third-party developer at no cost.” Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor of the university, says “Supportive housing is an inseparable part of the project.”

Community members have protested the city’s decision to forcefully remove unhoused residents from the park, which was recently blocked off with shipping containers. “Now part of the National Register of Historic Places, People’s Park was the site of anti-war and environmental justice demonstrations in the 1960s and 1970s and has long been a place for homeless residents to camp and find services. Some Berkeley residents worry that history will be erased, despite the university’s promise to create permanent commemorations onsite.”