By Keyang Pang
Irvine- California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis visited Southern California Monday where she toured the new affordable student housing project of the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan, Vice Mayor Tammy Kim, and UCI administrative leaders accompanied the visit.
Howard Gilman, UC Irvine Chancellor welcomed the Lieutenant Governor as they first visited the UCI Health Irvine construction site and the Forensic Exam site. The final stop on the trip was the school’s Mesa Court Residence Hall, where the state of California has funded an expansion of the project to help provide affordable housing for students.
Tim Trevin, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Housing told reporters that the Mesa Court Residence Hall expansion project will provide 300 new residence hall beds for lower-division undergraduates. The project will cost $80 million, of which $65 million will come from CA’s Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program. The new residence hall will open in 2026.
“The grant money allocated by the state in 2020 is historic, providing billions of dollars in funding for the UC、CSU and community college system to accommodate more on-campus housing needs,” Kounalakis said.
Kounalakis emphasized, “UC Irvine is the crown jewel of the UC system. UC Irvine is one of the larger recipients of grant money and it’s clearly being put to good use. Students deserve to be able to focus on their studies and not worry about where they are going to sleep at night. We’re working hard to ensure the resources are there for students in California’s educational experience.”
Mayor Khan noted that the city of Irvine is also learning from UC Irvine and will make sure Irvine can provide affordable housing for students and working professionals.
According to UC Irvine, in March, the UC regents approved a plan to increase on-campus housing at UC campuses by 8,000 beds to help meet growing student demand. This is part of a larger systemwide goal to add 22,000 beds across the nine UC undergraduate campuses by fall 2028. UCI has received regental approval to expand its Mesa Court complex, which houses first- and second-year students.
The Mesa Court residence hall expansion project will provide about 300 new affordable residence hall beds for lower-division undergraduates. It will help meet current and projected demand for on-campus housing and make progress toward increasing housing capacity for students on campus. The project’s location near the Mesa Court Towers takes advantage of existing dining and community facilities, making it a cost-efficient solution for accommodating more students. The effort supports diversity, equity and inclusion by expanding student access to the many academic and social resources available on campus. It will be funded through the California Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program and external financing.
Overall, UCI provides on-campus, under-market housing opportunities for more than 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the third-most among UC campuses.
