Can housing development on June ballot help Davis find its ’missing generation’?

By Daniel Lempres. Updated January 29, 2026 10:06 AM

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A rendering shows one of the conceptual home design for the Village Farms Davis project. Final designs would be subject to city approval after the City Council put the project's future to the residents in the June primary election. North Davis Land Co.

When former Davis mayor and councilmember Lois Wolk spoke to the City Council about the 500-acre Village Farms housing project, she didn’t talk about traffic or floodplains. She talked about a “missing generation” — families who want to live in Davis but can’t afford to, and the empty classrooms and shrinking school enrollment left behind.

Now, as the city prepares to send Village Farms to voters, Wolk’s question lingers: Has Davis priced out its future?

“The City Council on which I served in the 1990s was composed of men and women, none of whom were born in Davis. Each and every one of us had moved to Davis from somewhere else — to work, to raise our families,” Wolk told the council. “Our children went to Davis schools.”

Today, those schools face plummeting enrollment numbers that will sharply decrease outside funding, leaving schools with fewer resources.

“Our schools’ problems reflect that missing generation you are being asked to provide for — the new members of the community who, like you and like us before you, will become part of the life of this community,” Wolk told the council.

Wolk’s remarks came during a marathon public comment session at a recent Davis city council meeting, where more than 50 speakers, most in favor of allowing the development, shared their opinions before council members voted on certifying the project’s environmental impact report, the final hurdle to getting the project in front of Davis voters.

Other speakers shared concerns about the impact on city infrastructure, the potential for toxic run-off and worries about flood mitigation.

A construction worker installs electrical conduit at The Cannery housing development in Davis in 2015. Completed more than a decade ago, The Cannery is the city’s last major residential project and sits next to the proposed Village Farms site, which supporters say could help bring back the “missing generation” of families priced out of Davis. Manny Crisostomo Sacramento Bee file

A missing generation

Wolk’s children were one and three when she moved to Davis. At the time, many young people were starting families there.

“There were so many folks our own age with children,” she recalled. “You just saw them everywhere.”

The missing generation, as Wolk calls them, is the cohort of people between about 30 and 50 who have been “vanishing” in Davis due to the cost of living, she said. That cohort is critical to the city budget and school district funding.

“They bring students for the schools and volunteers for the nonprofits. They engage with the community and start businesses.” Wolk said of the missing cohort. “They provide referees for the soccer games and so much more for the community.”

Data from the American Community Survey for the Davis Census County Division indicate that the city had about 11% fewer children under five in 2024 than in 2014. The data show a 13% increase in children between ages 5 and 9 and a 3% increase in children between ages 10 and 14.

Two men walk through the barn under construction at The Cannery housing project in Davis during construction. The Cannery’s approval in 2013 was controversial, but today Davis faces renewed pressure to approve housing like Village Farms as shrinking school enrollment reflects the city’s declining population of young families. Manny Crisostomo Sacramento Bee file

School board weighs in

Fewer children will have a significant impact on Davis’ schools, and the school board is sounding the alarm.

Traditionally, the school board has stayed out of city politics, Wolk said. But this time, the increased stakes have made that impossible. “The schools are speaking up,” Wolk said. “That’s a real departure.”

Davis Joint Unified School District is one of the lowest-funded in the state, according to a November school board presentation.

The district had 380 fewer students in 2024 than in 2014. District officials expect enrollment to drop by another 1,000 students over the next decade.

“The school board recognizes that if the city doesn’t restore a balance of new homes they’ll have to close or restrict schools,” Wolk said.

In response to the enrollment decline, the district is considering revising its boundaries or closing schools. A decision will be made in the spring of 2027. The outcome of June’s vote on the Village Farms development will inform the district’s plans, as the development could increase enrollment over the next 10 to 15 years.

A developer-provided land use map shows the proposed Village Farms Davis project on the city’s northern edge, including housing areas, parks, open space and a natural habitat preserve. The 498-acre proposal would add about 1,800 homes and must be approved by voters under Measure J-R-D. North Davis Land Co.

New neighbors

The Cannery neighborhood, adjacent to the proposed village farms site, was a controversial 100-acre development that included more than 500 new homes approved by the City Council in 2013.

Now, Cannery residents fall on both sides of the debate over new development. Some, like UC Davis professor and Wildhorse resident Nicholas Pinter, worry about flood risks and increased density.

“Davis needs to say yes to some of the projects being proposed, but as a Davis resident, I will vote against any project that looks like the Cannery.” Pinter told the city council.

Others see Village Farms as a lifeline for Davis’ schools.

“We are at a pivotal moment for our city,” Krista Hoffman, a Cannery resident with two children in local schools, said. “This project could prevent devastating school closures.”

‘Out of sync’

Between 2014 and 2024, UC Davis added about 5,500 students, mostly undergraduates.

The growth of UC Davis and the surrounding city should go hand in hand, Wolk said. Recently, the university has grown faster than the city, impacting an already tight rental housing market. “The UC has grown enormously,” Wolk said. “The city has not provided similar expansion.”

A construction worker walks past the unfinished pool at The Center at The Ramble, part of the West Village student housing complex at UC Davis in 2011. While UC Davis has added thousands of students and expanded housing like West Village, the city itself hasn't kept pace with family housing, contributing to a sharp drop in school enrollment. Andy Alfaro Sacramento Bee file

High housing costs near California’s colleges and universities have burdened students and caused conflict with neighbors for decades. The problem has caught the attention of lawmakers, who this year passed a raft of bills aimed at making it easier to build housing near campuses. Such policies could help young people stay in Davis after graduation, many of whom are being priced out of the growing city due to low housing supply.

Home prices in Davis have risen faster than the rest of Yolo County, according to the city’s housing element. The median home price, according to real estate website Zillow, is about $790,000. With home prices starting at about $750,000, some Davis residents worry that the Village Farms development would be unaffordable for most people. While the proposal does include 280 units of affordable housing, 80 moderate-income units and 70 units where down payment assistance will be provided, most of the new lots and homes, about 1,300 in total, will sell at market rate.

The city’s rate of growth is “out of sync” with its population, Wolk said.

Wolk recognizes that bringing back the missing generation will not be without friction.

“Growth is always difficult,” she said. It is especially complicated in Davis, where voters have made clear that they want the final say in expansion decisions. A city ballot initiative, Measure J-R-D, requires the city to seek voter approval to convert open space to urban space. Voters approved the measure three times, but Wolk worries it is hindering the city’s efforts to expand housing stock.

Measure J “hasn’t produced balanced, careful growth for our community,” Wolk said. “This is not working”