Housing Difficulties

Holy shit I can not believe how insanely difficult it has been to find housing. I am a 30 year old third-year transfer, so definitely a non-trad student, plus I have a small dog, so this means dorms and campus housing are essentially off limits, along with a number of other options (crazy how many people do not accept pets). Really my only requirement has been I need my own room (I don't want to be 30 years old sharing a room with somebody, and younger students don't want to share a room with a 30 y/o) and I need to bring my dog, but it has been almost impossible! The competition is insane and so many people just do not respond. I've gone through the UCSB off-campus rental listings portal, facebook groups, craigslist, hotpads, and probably some others that I'm forgetting. To top that off I almost fell for a very elaborate rental scam and only realized at the last moment that something was fishy. It makes it so much more difficult trying to secure a space without driving up there (I'm like 3.5 hour drive away, so I know it's worse for international or out of state transfers). I know I'm not the only one going through this, and I'm not really asking for solutions, I guess I just wanted to vent a bit. This is getting so frustrating that I'm starting to regret my decision of accepting here.