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When UC Berkeley graduate student Helen Poynton became pregnant during her second year on campus, university housing officials gave her two options: She could move into to a brand new spacious apartment filled with modern amenities or she could rent a unit in a 1960s complex with smaller rooms, fewer amenities and a reputation for mold. 

Poynton picked the mold. What she lost out on in luxury, she more than made up for in price—two-bedroom apartments in Poynton’s complex, known as Section B cost $768, compared to the newly renovated East Village Apartments where similar units cost $1,344.  

Both complexes are part of University Village in Albany—the UC Berkeley residential community just west of San Pablo Avenue which is geared towards students with families. 

The fate of the project is closely linked to another UC institution now facing an end, the agricultural research projects on the nearby Gill Tract which are scheduled to be sacrificed for the construction of a supermarket, creation of new dormitory space for single students and faculty and the building of a pair of ballfields. 

Poynton rallied Monday with about 50 other tenants who were protesting the university’s plan to demolish Section B’s 412 units and replace them with 576 new units—a plan they say would eliminate the last bastion of desperately needed affordable housing for students with families.  

The university estimates that the new Section B units will cost tenants $1,366, slightly less than the maximum amount student loans allocate for housing and almost double the current rent. 

“I would have dropped out of school if not for Section B,” said Poynton. “Sometimes you prefer affordability over luxury.” 

But UC Director of Housing Facilities Operations and Services Bob Jacobs said that mold, which had seeped into the building through improperly sealed windows, poses a health risk. “If you have a condition like asthma, the mold will exacerbate it,” he said. 

Students submitted a counter proposal, replacing the university’s $120 million demolition plan with a $40 million plan to eliminate the mold, but Jacobs said Section B would have to be demolished within 15 years anyway. 

“If we followed their plan, we could keep rents lower for 15 years and then incredibly spike them after that,” he said. 

The additional Section B apartment units planned for construction would supplement the loss of Section A Housing—152 units—that will be sacrificed to Gill Tract development. 

Protesters alleged that the university had decided to demolish Section B during the Gill Tract construction next summer to make the project more cost efficient. Jacobs rejected the charge, saying the new projects are unrelated because the university will lease the Gill Tract land to a private developer for construction. 

He said tenant rents will jump because, as with the East Village, the university receives no funding for the construction and must float bonds that are ultimately repaid entirely by increased student rents. 

Construction will begin this summer on half of the Section B complex, allowing some residents to remain in the other half while university officials try to find housing for displaced students. The first half of the project is scheduled for completion in 2006 and the second half in 2008. 

The project will go ahead as planned, Jacobs said, adding that the university might eventually be able to offer needy students a rent grant to offset the price hikes. 

“We certainly recognize the problems students will face and we’re going to try to work with the campus to provide money for students who need it,” he said. 

Jacob Schiller contributed to this story.