When Rick Toledo heard his California college was considering housing students on a barge, he thought it was just a rumor. But after officials confirmed the possibility about two weeks ago, a long list of concerns crossed the senior’s mind.
He imagined students getting seasick, being stuck onboard in the middle of storms or slipping off the barge while inebriated.
“That’s a ridiculous solution for a variety of reasons,” Toledo told The Washington Post.
Across the United States, universities are seeking solutions to campus housing shortages. At California State Polytechnic University at Humboldt, officials are considering creative options. One is to rent a barge, a large boat typically used to carry cargo, and anchor it in a nearby bay for students to live on — a possibility that has excited some but made others skeptical.
“It’s seeming like they want to use this as a general living situation, which, in that case, how are you supposed to get from the boat to campus?” sophomore Lars Hansen said.
This year, 5,858 students are enrolled at the Arcata, Calif., college, according to school spokesman Grant Scott-Goforth, and the university can house about 2,100 students on campus. Because of growing enrollment, returning students won’t be guaranteed on-campus housing next school year, the university announced this month.
Housing shortages are especially prevalent in California, a state with one of the country’s most expensive housing markets. According to a 2021 state assembly report, between 5 and 20% of students at California’s public colleges and universities reported experiencing homelessness. Some students have lived in trailers and vans, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Cal Poly Humboldt has transformed hotel rooms into dorms and explored doing the same with unoccupied apartment and commercial buildings. About a year ago, officials contemplated turning a cruise ship into dorms, according to Miles Slattery, the city manager in nearby Eureka.
When he was a student at the same college in the early 1990s, Slattery said living on the water “would’ve been my number one option.” He and school officials recently found barges that would fit near two Humboldt Bay docks.
Cal Poly Humboldt isn’t the first school to consider housing students on the water. In 2011, St. Mary’s College of Maryland moved students onto a cruise ship because of a mold outbreak in residence halls. But for now, Cal Poly Humboldt hasn’t made a final decision.
“The idea of floating apartments or studios is one of many possibilities the University has been exploring,” Scott-Goforth said in a statement. “This is very preliminary at this point and the university does not have further details to share.”
Slattery said he and school officials have been looking at two multistory barges that are about 300 feet long and 90 feet wide. Slattery expects the barge would house about 600 to 800 students in 150 to 300 rooms and would feature a cafeteria and a gym. The barge would be anchored securely, so it would be sedentary, and would have sewage and electricity, Slattery said.
The barge would sit between eight and 10 miles from campus, Slattery said, so finding transportation for students would be challenging. While it’s a hike from campus, it’s close to restaurants, shops and bars.
“It’s basically a floating hotel or a floating cruise ship,” Slattery said. “Whatever accommodations are being offered to this facility, they’re as good, if not better, than other accommodations at other universities.”
Still, some students fear the worst. At an on-campus protest Feb. 8, one student carried a sign that read “DON’T PUT US ON A [FREAKING] PRISON BOAT!”
Toledo, who plans to graduate with an environmental science degree next spring, is concerned about students’ safety on the boat, especially during storms. He said he underwent surgery on his right knee in December and worries if the boat became unstable, the movements would aggravate his injuries.
The school placing students on a barge “speaks to a level of unpreparedness,” Toledo said. He said if he doesn’t get housing in a dorm, he’ll rent an apartment or house.
Hansen, who’s studying anthropology, also has doubts about the barge. Though he wants to live with friends next year, he said he’d consider a barge if those plans fall through.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Hansen said. “If it’s a viable, safe option, then why not?”