Joy McKenna would not be a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford if she could not rely on a partner for financial help. McKenna, a

third-year postdoctoral scholar in the microbiology and immunology department, told The Daily housing affordability issues are not unique among Stanford postdocs.

With the combined effects of high inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic and notoriously high Bay Area rents, McKenna and many of her peers said they struggle to find housing and afford rent near Stanford’s campus. 

Many postdocs’ only option is to find off-campus housing. As non-matriculated students in the graduate housing lottery system, postdocs are assigned to housing after all matriculated students, leaving some without a spot on campus.

Unfortunately for postdocs, the Bay Area is in a “housing crisis,” said Shanti Singh, communications and legislative director for local nonprofit Tenants Together. Singh said that it is important to contextualize postdocs’ current housing issues within the larger history of housing development in the Bay Area. 

“We created a bunch of jobs, and then we didn’t create any housing that people can afford at those income levels,” Singh said. “Some of these income levels are so far below what we would consider market-rate, but this is where we need direct intervention.”

The demand for affordable market-rate housing dramatically exceeds the supply, Singh said.

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