With the new dorm, UC was planning to house about 60% of the (expanded) undergraduate population on-campus; clearly that can’t happen for the time being. It’s always something. 
However, another way to look at it would be that UChicago is actually able to house 100% of all first years and 2nd years who asked for housing, and probably housed a decent number of third years as well (perhaps even a few fourth years). All returning students requesting housing who were given a spot in the lottery must return to their last winter quarter house or can reside anywhere there is room in WRC. So those houses with singles-only (in BJ, I-House and Snitch) will have room for upper-level students, but those with a large number of doubles (North, South, Max) will very likely not. However, even the singles-only houses will typically see a lot of third years moving off campus, and that would have happened this year even without a pandemic shrinking the housing pool. It takes time to build up a residential community.
In contrast, Harvard is able to house only up to 40% of those who were expecting to return to dorms.
Actually, here is what UChicago has said about the undergraduate experience this fall:
Boyer: “We acknowledge that some students may decide to remain or may have to remain in their home communities for a variety of reasons. And most of our courses will have remote capabilities through enabled students to enjoy a rich and stimulating experience in that mode. But we also think that the return to Chicago is to return to a host of community resources and stimulating and intellectual friendships in support of magnificent level of education. It is to return to a community in which, as Hutchins once put it, the air is electric that and introduces students in powerful ways to the challenges of intellectual partnerships and gives them a common and shared vocabulary of ideas and ideals. It was an ancient Greek ideal that the city - the polis - and only the city can educate women and men to live full and enriching lives, lives defined by excellence and intellectual independence. Our university is such a polis, a formative intellectual community of friends set up in the home of the metropolis of the city of Chicago itself. We very much hope to welcome as many as of you as possible home, home to Chicago in the coming academic year. ”
Dr. Emily Landon, University of Chicago Epidemiologist: “We’ve been working together from the very beginning with both the university, the schools, the K through 12 schools, the hospital, and a number of other parts of our community and the state to help create safe places for people to be able to get on with their lives and coexist with COVID. Not just stay at home. ”
Jay Ellison, Dean of Students: “If you were thinking about taking a leave of absence or a gap year, I encourage you to reconsider and consider continuing to work on your degree progress and towards graduation. We are planning a number of exciting opportunities, and we just think it will be a great time to be here. ”
Prof. Christopher Wild, Master of the Humanities Division: “Unlike at most other schools, my colleagues had three weeks between the winter and spring quarters to redesign and move their courses on line, and they did a marvelous job. Sure, there were some glitches here and there, but my colleagues brought their enormous pedagogical passion and ingenuity to bear and create challenging and stimulating learning experiences for their students. As soon as the quarter ended, we got right to work to learn from the spring in order to apply the lessons learned to next year. Thus we have three months now to ensure that the students next year will experience the academic rigor and critical inquiry for which the University of Chicago is known. . . The current crisis has given rise to a host of new ideas and curricular initiatives that may come to transform education at the University of Chicago’s for years to come .”
Dean Nondorf: “Many other universities are cutting back in their career supports. And in some ways some of them are frozen. Our team has been engaging employers throughout the spring. I’m pleased to say that well over 90% percent of our seniors had jobs or graduate schools, many of them actually attending graduate programs here at the university. . . . Despite COVID and quarantine this spring, we still ended up with over 3,000 Metcalfs this year, which is incredible. Where many schools and quite honestly many students had their offers taken away or rescinded, that didn’t happen at the university. And in the few cases that it did, we were able to engage employers, engage faculty, and make sure that we could continue to do research opportunities and job opportunities, internships, virtually.”
Boyer: “I would just add that I believe that there is no contradiction between liberal education and professional success. We’ve been working very hard over the last 20 years to prove exactly that test. ”
Michelle Rasmussen, Ass’t Dean of Students in Charge of Student Life: “While this decision (UAA cancelling conference games) affects scheduled UAA contests, it does not affect non-conference competitions. UChicago’s working group is using guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, Illinois and Chicago public health agencies, the NCAA’s Sports Science Institute, and specialists from UChicago Medicine to develop a plan for returning athletes to practice and compete against non-conference opponents this fall. Athletes must also be prepared for the possibility that some seasons may have to end early or be canceled altogether.”
To me this sounds like Full Steam Ahead to the extent such is possible. Much will depend on factors outside UChicago’s control, but they seem to have embraced the harder task of actually attempting to replicate to the fullest extent possible a genuine “undergraduate experience.” For everyone.
Crises tend to widen opportunity curves, not flatten them.