Officials at California State University Sacramento's campus are working on building a brand-new student residence hall that will help bring affordable housing options for low-income students.Student Housing III is a five-story, 97,100-foot building that will have 335 beds total. It will be located in front of Riverview Hall, constructed mostly on the parking lot out front. White dash lines on the pavement currently mark the outline of the building.$41 million of the $69 million project is being funded by California’s Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program. The recently created program helps colleges and universities across the state provide affordable student housing and beds, at no more than 30-50% of the area median income.Sacramento State officials said their new housing project will open the door for 285 affordable beds to be available across all of their residence halls once the new building is constructed.“We get to spread to all eight buildings, so that it’s not the affordable housing building, but students will be at a certain price point, and they get to live in any of the residence halls that we have,” Samuel Jones, executive director of University Housing Services at Sacramento State, said. “You can spread them out throughout like the American River Courtyard, Riverview and Desmond Hall so that the affordable housing students are not all in one space, but they’re spread throughout the community.”Jones said there were 600 students on Sacramento State’s housing waiting list in May, and he hopes the new housing building helps put a dent in those numbers. He also said that providing low-income students affordable options for housing on campus is something new for the university.“Right now, there’s no affordable housing beds,” Jones said.Jones added that affordable housing options will help keep students enrolled and engaged.“It really does help with retention,” Jones said. “It really is helping with the growth of Sac State, our retention of our students. And if students live on campus their first year and their second year, they’re more likely to graduate in four years.”AJ Johnson, policy director for California Competes, said they believe the state’s Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program will support at least 11,200 low-income California students.“The statute is really exciting because it requires the units to be affordable, and it requires the units to be used for low-income students,” Johnson said.Johnson also said that housing is a major chunk of a college student’s expenses. They said it accounts for 43% of costs for students in the UC system, 57% of costs for students in the Cal State system and 68% of costs for students in California's community colleges.“If you had that cost stabilized and affordable for you, that can really mean that you’re able to perhaps work fewer hours and take more classes and maybe graduate sooner,” Johnson said.Johnson said they hope the state budget issues improve so more grant funding can be available to support the construction of more projects.At Sacramento State, students told KCRA 3 that they were happy to see the university work on providing more assistance to low-income students.“I think it’s good for those students that don’t necessarily live close by, because it is kind of expensive here in Sacramento, so it’s nice to have some affordable housing for them,” Sacramento State student Samuel Chang said.Sacramento State student Alexis Chandler said, “If we have the ability to, we should all be able to comfortably seek higher education, and I think that something like college tuition and housing prices tend to sometimes stray people away… I think helping students, making things more affordable, can really help people seek higher education and have like a domino effect in a really positive way.”While a lot of the funding is being paid for through the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program, the rest of the money will come from CSU revenue bonds, ongoing housing revenues and campus housing program reserves, according to the university.To offset the loss of student residence parking, because the new building will go up on the parking lot site, additional designated parking spaces will be made available for student residents at Parking Structure 5.Construction on the new residence hall will begin in October. Jones said the building is expected to open in summer 2026, and students will start living there during the 2026-2027 academic year.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Officials at California State University Sacramento's campus are working on building a brand-new student residence hall that will help bring affordable housing options for low-income students.
Student Housing III is a five-story, 97,100-foot building that will have 335 beds total. It will be located in front of Riverview Hall, constructed mostly on the parking lot out front. White dash lines on the pavement currently mark the outline of the building.
$41 million of the $69 million project is being funded by California’s Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program. The recently created program helps colleges and universities across the state provide affordable student housing and beds, at no more than 30-50% of the area median income.
Sacramento State officials said their new housing project will open the door for 285 affordable beds to be available across all of their residence halls once the new building is constructed.
“We get to spread to all eight buildings, so that it’s not the affordable housing building, but students will be at a certain price point, and they get to live in any of the residence halls that we have,” Samuel Jones, executive director of University Housing Services at Sacramento State, said. “You can spread them out throughout like the American River Courtyard, Riverview and Desmond Hall so that the affordable housing students are not all in one space, but they’re spread throughout the community.”
Jones said there were 600 students on Sacramento State’s housing waiting list in May, and he hopes the new housing building helps put a dent in those numbers. He also said that providing low-income students affordable options for housing on campus is something new for the university.
“Right now, there’s no affordable housing beds,” Jones said.
Jones added that affordable housing options will help keep students enrolled and engaged.
“It really does help with retention,” Jones said. “It really is helping with the growth of Sac State, our retention of our students. And if students live on campus their first year and their second year, they’re more likely to graduate in four years.”
AJ Johnson, policy director for California Competes, said they believe the state’s Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program will support at least 11,200 low-income California students.
“The statute is really exciting because it requires the units to be affordable, and it requires the units to be used for low-income students,” Johnson said.
Johnson also said that housing is a major chunk of a college student’s expenses. They said it accounts for 43% of costs for students in the UC system, 57% of costs for students in the Cal State system and 68% of costs for students in California's community colleges.
“If you had that cost stabilized and affordable for you, that can really mean that you’re able to perhaps work fewer hours and take more classes and maybe graduate sooner,” Johnson said.
Johnson said they hope the state budget issues improve so more grant funding can be available to support the construction of more projects.
At Sacramento State, students told KCRA 3 that they were happy to see the university work on providing more assistance to low-income students.
“I think it’s good for those students that don’t necessarily live close by, because it is kind of expensive here in Sacramento, so it’s nice to have some affordable housing for them,” Sacramento State student Samuel Chang said.
Sacramento State student Alexis Chandler said, “If we have the ability to, we should all be able to comfortably seek higher education, and I think that something like college tuition and housing prices tend to sometimes stray people away… I think helping students, making things more affordable, can really help people seek higher education and have like a domino effect in a really positive way.”
While a lot of the funding is being paid for through the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program, the rest of the money will come from CSU revenue bonds, ongoing housing revenues and campus housing program reserves, according to the university.
To offset the loss of student residence parking, because the new building will go up on the parking lot site, additional designated parking spaces will be made available for student residents at Parking Structure 5.
Construction on the new residence hall will begin in October. Jones said the building is expected to open in summer 2026, and students will start living there during the 2026-2027 academic year.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter
