UC Village

It is located within the city limits of Albany about two miles away from the main Berkeley campus, at an elevation of 26 feet (8 m).

The University Village is located on the Gill Tract, at the foot of Codornices and Marin Creeks.

It began as a federal housing project for some of the thousands of families of workers who came to the San Francisco Bay Area to work in various war industries during World War II, especially the Kaiser Shipyards in nearby Richmond and Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo.

It originally extended across the city limits past Codornices Creek into Berkeley as far south as Camelia Street.

Even before the U.S. entered WWII, war production brought workers to the SF Bay area and strained the housing supply.

[1] The federal government passed the Lanham act in 1940 which funded housing and daycare for civilian war workers.

It would eventually house 8000-10000 people in an area of Berkeley and Albany bordered by Camilia street, San Pablo, and Buchanan and be known as Codornices Village.

The project included the integrated Codornices Elementary school and Children's Center, as well as recreation facilities.

Trains transported workers from Codornices Village to the Richmond shipyards and to Mare Island in Vallejo.

[13][14] African American workers at the time experienced difficulties and restrictions in locating housing in the private market.

While the Lanham act encouraged consideration of the race of the area, Albany's Black population in the 1940 cenus was only 3 persons.

In Berkeley, the African American population was primarily restricted to the south west portion of the city.

Though the housing was integrated, initially African American families were assigned to the less desirable units on the west side.

"[13] After WWII, cities were eligible under the Lanham Act to take over the housing and continue to operate it, but Berkeley and Albany declined to do so.

[21][22] In 1954, with no local authority expressing interest in operating the village, eviction notices were issued, and demolition began.

Hundreds of families with children moved to South Berkeley, leading to overcrowding in elementary schools there, and a layoff of 14 teachers in Albany.

Apartments had balconies, sliding glass doors, an outdoor storage closet, and in-unit laundry machine connections.

[27][29][30] In 1998 the University of California board of regents approved a plan to replace the older student housing at UC Village with new units.

Marty Takimoto, the director of communications and marketing for UC Berkeley's residential and student services department, said that mold, lead paint, proximity to the water table, and proximity to the bay were reasons why the university chose to demolish the old housing.

[23]: 334 [32][33][34] In 2004, the UC approved plans to demolish the remaining 412 apartments of section B housing to build the West Village.

Village residents continued to argue that the section B housing could be renovated at a lower cost.

"[29] After the openings of the East and West Village, student families could not afford the higher rent and there were vacancies.

[29][30][42] In 2022, UC announced plans to build a six story, 289 apartment tower totaling 760 beds for graduate students without families in the Village on the site of the former Section A housing at Monroe and Jackson, which were torn down 14 years earlier in 2008.

[43][44][45] University Village, a 77 acres (31 ha) complex, is located in the City of Albany, 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of the main campus.

The development is bordered by Buchanan Street, United States Department of Agriculture research and office facilities, and Ocean View Elementary School to the north.

In other directions, University Village is bordered by railroad tracks of Union Pacific to the west, California Route 123 (San Pablo Avenue) to the east, and Cordonices Creek to the south.

Due to the proximity of the railroad, the Village suffers from the noise pollution of trains honking loudly at all hours.