Staying afloat as a UC Berkeley student is no easy feat. The last thing students should have to worry about, beyond challenging tests and intimidating professors, is finding a decent place to live near campus. Fortunately, the City of Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board approved the Lions Hall student housing proposal on August 11, shortly after Greenbelt Alliance endorsed it.

Right on the corner of Ellsworth St. and Durant Ave. in downtown Berkeley, developer Hudson McDonald, LLC will construct a building that will house 164 students in 41 suites. The private bedrooms here will cost less to rent than the shared bedroom alternatives on campus. This development will not have any parking for students; instead, they can use their university-provided transit pass to hop on the bus or park their bike securely in the garage with BART just a quick walk away. Lions Hall is catered toward student lifestyles: future residents can lounge on the roof deck or get cozy watching a DVD in the shared movie room.

“I support projects like Lions Hall because they increase choices for students who don’t necessarily have a lot of them,” said UC Berkeley student Timothy Fok, who just graduated with a Master’s in City Planning. “If UC Berkeley wants to continue to prosper, we need to make sure that we can support students not just at school, but also in helping them find affordable housing.