SAINTS AT BUCCANEERS NOON • CBS 1C
THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
S u n d ay, d e c e m b e r 7, 2025
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP
GEORGIA DOMINATES ALABAMA, WINS CONFERENCE TITLE 3C $2.50X
LSU, Kiffin center stage in debate on college athlete pay Bill reshaping NIL tabled following bipartisan backlash BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP
Silo Creek may be among the shiniest and most visible projects to open recently. Construction is still not complete on the 11-building, 252-unit development, yet the occupancy rate is ‘better than we expected,’ said Michael Lang, New Orleans-based Key Real Estate managing principal for development.
Housing crunch
Lafayette rental market named one of the hottest in the U.S. BY ADAM DAIGLE and ZETA McCASKILL
Acadiana business editor and contributing writer
When Brandon Gilley left student housing at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2020, he lived in his car, his sister’s house, a partner’s house and later paid a co-worker $200 to sleep on her couch for two months. Thanks to his job at Jimmy John’s, where he worked up to 70 hours a week, he was finally able to afford an apartment in Lafayette in 2021. Yet that ended poorly. The next summer, he landed at The Heritage at UL in a four-bedroom apartment. But the rent, which he estimated ended up costing over $2,200 for the semester, was too much. “It put me in the worst financial bind of my life,” said Gilley, an Opelousas native. “Ever since then, I’ve kind of been on the struggle bus. I couldn’t afford to pay for that. My sister had to end up giving me about $1,200 so I could pay that and still continue classes in the fall.” His housing struggles continued. There was the apartment near campus that at times had no refrigerator, stove, air-conditioning or hot water. Instead
WEATHER HIGH 70 LOW 50
now it’s tighter. Analysts at RentCafe, a national apartment service, identified the Lafayette market — which includes Lake Charles — as the fastestrising small market in the Toni Landry is manager of Silo Creek apartments, U.S. for rentals earlier this Lafayette’s newest complex. year. Occupancy is up sigApartment market running hot in Lafayette nificantly, and the number of applicants seeking a The Lafayette market was named the fastest-rising small typical available unit has market in the U.S. for rentals. Here are four indicators of how nearly doubled. The popuhot the market is: lation has gradually risen 2024 2025 in Lafayette Parish, which had the biggest population Occupancy rate 89.3% 93.7% spike in Louisiana in cenLease renewal 64.3% 68.9% sus data revealed earlier this year. Average applicants seeking a unit 6 11 Over the past three years, the total number of Average days a unit stayed vacant 37 34 jobs in the parish has risen Source: RentCafe Staff graphic 6%, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those aren’t surprising of addressing the issues, candle is almost gone.” In Lafayette Parish, numbers to Steven Hebert, management merely lowwhere just over 1 out of ev- CEO of Billeaud Compaered the rent. Now he’s sharing a place ery 3 households is a rental nies, which is a partner in near campus and paying property, the challenge to the 300-unit Villa Brous$555 a month that includes find an affordable rental sard apartments in Brousrent, utilities and Wi-Fi. has gotten more challeng- sard. The occupancy rate “I am a little stretched ing. in recent years was in the thin,” he said. “I feel like The market has been high 80s, but in the past 18 I’m just at my last little competitive since the wick, honestly, like the coronavirus pandemic, but ä See HOUSING, page 4A
ä See PAY, page 5A
Scalise
Construction on paused LNG project can resume Regulators reissue permit for Cameron Parish facility
BY JOSIE ABUGOV
Staff writer
Louisiana regulators have reissued a permit for a multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas terminal less than a month after a state judge ruled they had failed to consider the impacts of climate change and environmental justice, a judgment described as a first-of-its-kind. The permit allows Commonwealth LNG, the Houston-based company planning the gas export facility in Cameron Parish, to move forward with its project. The Nov. 18 permit dismayed environmental groups and advocates, who saw the judge’s previous order as a marginal win against the rapid industrial expansion in southwest Louisiana.
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Nation-World ................2A Classified ..................14A Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
ä See PROJECT, page 6A
101ST yEAR, NO. 160
© D. YURMAN 2025
PAGE 6B
ä Finding a place to live a monthslong endeavor for one University of Louisiana at Lafayette student. PAGE 4A
WASHINGTON — As the top Democrat in the U.S. House took the podium Thursday to speak out against a bill to regulate college athletics, he set his sights squarely on LSU, its new football coach — and two of the school’s alumni who are among the most powerful Jeffries people on Capitol Hill. “Why would Mike Johnson and Steve Scalise think it was a good idea to bring the Lane Kiffin Protection Act to the floor of the House of Representatives?” said House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat. Jeffries posited that it might have been to please big donors to Johnson the state’s flagship university. “Legislation that would do nothing to benefit college athletes and everything to benefit coaches like Lane Kiffin, who got out of town, abandoned his players in the middle of a playoff run to go get a $100 million contract from LSU
AVA I L A B L E AT