Less-costly housing is a professorial perk

In the early 1980s, UC Irvine officials noted a disturbing trend. Even with the lure of great weather, they were having a hard time attracting faculty. The reason: Housing prices were unaffordable. Their solution — University Hills, an employee housing development — has become a model for universities everywhere.

What’s it about?

University Hills is a 200-acre development of about 780 homes and 140 rental apartments. The houses are individually owned, but the land they sit on belongs to the Regents of the University of California and is managed by the Irvine Campus Housing Authority. By selling only the structures and not the land, the university is able to keep prices low.

How low? A one-bedroom condo sells for about $125,000; a three- or four-bedroom detached single-family house sells in the mid-$500,000s — about one-third less than market rates.

Rents for unfurnished units start at about $900 a month for one bedroom, $1,200 for two bedrooms and $1,300 to $1,400 for three bedrooms.

But here’s the catch. Only five categories of UCI employees are eligible to purchase or rent homes in University Hills, in this order: new faculty or senior management recruits; current faculty; newly recruited research staff who are not faculty or senior management members; current members of the same research staff; and, finally, other university staff.

About 80% of all new hires who are eligible elect to buy in University Hills, said Bill Parker, vice chancellor for research at UCI and a former president of the housing authority.

“It really made a difference for me,” said Joerg Meyer, who teaches computer graphics and virtual reality. “Buying a house on the open market in Orange County would be difficult on an assistant professor’s salary.”

Demand is so great that homes for sale rarely get past the first eligible group.

Insider’s view

University Hills is a lively community with green space, walking trails, concerts in the park and streets named after intellectual lights such as Curie, Dickens, Zola and Locke. The University Hills Homeowners Representative Board provides residents with a website and monthly newsletter highlighting community issues and events.

Good news, bad news

While a University Hills home costs below market price, the resale is likewise not nearly as lucrative. A seller sets the price based on the Consumer Price Index and improvements he or she made.

“If you are interested in benefiting from inflation in the real estate market,” Parker said, “you are in the wrong place to buy.”

Drawing card

Price remains the key, said Chuck Hayward, president of the housing authority. “It’s really been the only way that UCI has been able to attract the highest-quality faculty in this high-priced real estate market.”

But don’t underestimate convenience either. University Hills is popular because of its proximity to UCI. Since it sits on the edge of the campus, professors are within walking distance of their classrooms.

Mary Gilly, a professor who moved into University Hills’ first phase of housing in 1985, agreed.

“Where else in Southern California can you walk to work?” she asked. “And, raising kids — you know that everyone else in the neighborhood values education.”

Because the residents must be university employees, one might assume that it’s a one-note neighborhood. But that’s not so, residents say.

“I was afraid it would be too homogeneous, but I have no more in common with a neighbor who is a neurobiologist or a cognitive psychologist than I would with a doctor or dentist who would be a neighbor in the regular community,” Gilly said.

Stock report

More than 30 different floor plans are available in the community, which was built in eight phases, according to Hayward. More construction is planned. The architecture is contemporary California, with earth-toned and stucco finishes that span the styles from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Report card

University Hills feeds into Turtle Rock Elementary, which posted a score of 963 out of 1,000 on the 2005 Academic Performance Index Growth Report. Rancho San Joaquin Middle School and the K-8 Vista Verde Elementary posted scores of 911 and 914, respectively, while University High had a score of 890.