AdvertisementRigel Robinson, chair of the Land Use, Housing, and Economic Development Committee on the Berkeley City Council, said "the student housing crisis has become the defining characteristic of the student experience at UC Berkeley." Experts said the housing crisis is making the already high student-debt load in the country worse. But with housing costs spiking, living expenses are a big part of the story for many. Darrell Owens, a policy analyst at California YIMBY — an advocacy organization working to end California's housing crisis — noted that the student housing crisis exacerbates the broader housing crisis. "Then what ends up happening is that they spike housing costs for other people."

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Persons: —, Katie Ibsen, Ibsen, Berkeley, Gavin Newsom, Rigel Robinson, Robert Kelchen, Kelchen, Marcella Bombardieri, Bombardieri, They're, Pell, I've, Darrell Owens, Robinson, it's Organizations: Service, University of California, Business, Gov, Economic, Berkeley City Council, UC Berkeley, Department of Educational, University of Tennessee, Knoxville ., Center for American Progress, Kootenai, Parsons School of Design, Hope, Temple University, Pell Grants Locations: Berkeley, COVID, Davis , California, Knoxville, Knoxville . College, California, Montana, Kootenai College, New York City, Jersey City