Fall 2017 Housing Guide by The Michigan Daily

FROM THE DAILY | EDITORIAL

From the Daily: Make the U more affordable

n Jan. 18, The New York Times’ The Upshot published a report with statistics detailing variation in student income on college campuses in the United States. The statistics reveal the University of Michigan’s disproportionately high number of wealthy students on campus. Sixty-six percent of students come from the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans, and only 3.6 percent come from the poorest 20 percent. The study fundamentally illustrates that the University is not doing enough to promote socioeconomic diversity on campus. The University must do more to promote socioeconomic diversity by more actively promoting financial aid and scholarships, as well as work to retain students once they come to the University through more affordable living. The University’s current policies to assist low-income students only go so far. While the HAIL scholarship, which provides full-ride scholarships to high-achieving, low-income students, is certainly a good start, it focuses on alleviating the student debt of a select few, rather than increasing socioeconomic diversity overall. Furthermore, the University must make sure that it is doing

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its part to make students more aware of the possible financial aid that is available to them. Financial aid documents are also long and often confusing, requiring months of rigorous financial work to grant students access to necessary assistance; the University needs to give students more tools to help them fill out these long and complicated forms to get the aid they need. In the 2011-2012 year, 2 million students qualified for federal aid, but about 14 percent of students didn’t know how to apply and 9 percent said it was too much work to apply. What’s more, the CSS profile is another requirement the University has for students who wish to apply for grants and scholarships, an even more comprehensive and detailed set of forms students applying for any University aid must fill out. In light of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plan, the University must work to make campus more affordable once students have arrived, otherwise the DEI’s main goal to create a better campus climate won’t be enough to attract and retain students of low socioeconomic backgrounds. We also believe that the University must take a more active role in alleviating external costs that may create barriers to low-income students.

A study by the Urban Institute shows that four-year institution room-and-board costs are growing significantly. While on-campus housing used to provide students with cheaper housing, this report shows it is now only 7 percent cheaper to live on-campus. This problem is especially salient in Ann Arbor, as increasingly unaffordable housing creates obstacles for students who already find it difficult to pay their tuition. Compared to other Big Ten schools, on-campus housing at the University is on the more expensive end of the spectrum. In fact, many University students live in Ypsilanti instead of Ann Arbor because of steadily growing housing costs in Ann Arbor. Increasing programs to assist in these additional expenses would decrease obstacles to students. Other schools around the country have been doing a considerably better job at promoting socioeconomic diversity on their campuses through several different specialized programs. Denison University, Grinnell College, University of Southern California and Williams College allocate extensive amounts of funds toward highly See FROM THE DAILY, Page 10

Where Should START You Live? No

Are you a student in search of a great place to live during the 2018-2019 school year?

This probably isnĘźt the best quiz for you

Yes!

The Courtyards Student Apartments

Do you spend your free time watching MasterChef and experimenting in your kitchen?

I love nature Go North!

East University

Yes!

East University? State Street? North Campus? State Street

Yes, I need a gym

Ramen, Take-out and microwavable only

Do you #shred at the gym in your free time

Maybe I could cook some eggs and rice.... Nope

Luxury? Or on a budget?

Luxury Living

Nope How do you feel about roommates?

Budget

The more the merrier Forest Apartments

Renting a house seems like a great fit for you! Typically houses have 6-10 roommates, full kitchens, and private bedrooms

Zaragon Landmark Arbor Blu

Luxury? Or on a budget? Luxury Living

U of M dorms seem like the perfect fit for you. With a meal plan, just swipe your MCard for unlimited amounts of food without having to cook. Visit housing.michigan.edu for more information

Budget

Corner House Apartments

Foundry Lofts Sterling 411 Zaragon West

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Ann Arbor officials and students share concerns over city housing affordability Increased Affordable Housing

KAELA THEUT

Daily Staff Reporter

Rather than merely walking across the Diag to get to class, Music, Theatre & Dance senior Mackenzie Larrance’s morning routine consists of fighting traffic during her daily commute across town from her Ypsilanti residence. Her reasoning behind renting an apartment so far from central campus? The rapidly rising cost of living for both students and Ann Arbor residents. “I decided to live outside of Ann Arbor for two reasons: I had a car, and it was less expensive,” Larrance said. “I’m also in a serious relationship where my boyfriend and I have been dating for almost 5 years. He and I can’t afford an apartment in downtown Ann Arbor without getting a full time job. It’s also difficult finding other couples like ourselves who would want to split the costs of living.” Larrance further noted her expenses for living in Ypsilanti are almost a thousand dollars cheaper than if she were to rent an apartment in Ann Arbor. “I’d say on average, I pay approximately $1,400 a month when living in Ypsilanti,” she said. “This includes rent, food, gas and other college expenses. For a single room apartment in Ann Arbor, that’s about $1,200 which is $400 more than my apartment in Ypsilanti. Then once you add my other expenses, I would be paying $2,200 a month. I took out gas in that calculation too.” According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median rate for rent in Ann Arbor has increased 14 percent from 2010 to 2015 and now sits at approximately $1,075 per month — despite the amount of high-density housing areas also rising by 32 percent. It is important to note this

Median rent in Ann Arbor has increased from to

14%

2010 2015 & housing density has risen 32% since 2010

2010 Ann Arbor city council voted to create

2,800 new affordable housing units by

2035

& an increase demand in market price housing in Ypsilanti by

4,187units.

DESIGN BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS

number accounts for the entire city, so it may not ref lect the experiences of students living in areas such as Kerrytown or South Campus. However, rent prices are high enough that in 2016, 599 students, such as Larrance, listed an Ypsilanti zip code as either their permanent or local address — a number troubling to urban planners. A 2015 study, commissioned by the Washtenaw County Office of Community and Economic Development and prepared by czb L.L.C., a Virginia-based urban planning and neighborhood development consulting firm, stated the increasing economic inequality between the two cities will negatively affect the county. Unless policies are changed, the report states Ann Arbor will only continue to become more expensive, while Ypsilanti property values will plummet

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due to high turnover rate. “The result will be a county decreasingly affordable and out of balance and, eventually, unsustainable, as some parts of the county possibly degrade beyond a point of no return, and others grow in value beyond a point that’s ever again affordable,” the report reads. “The imbalance in income, education and opportunity between the jurisdictions, along with the socioeconomic segregation that goes with it, will hamper the regional economic growth potential of the area.” As a result of this report, in 2015, Ann Arbor City Council members voted 10-1 to adopt affordable housing goals such as creating nearly 2,800 new affordably priced rental units by 2035. They also hope to augment demand for housing in Ypsilanti by 4,187 units through measures such as increasing

energy efficiency and tearing down vacant buildings. In a Central Student Government 2016 fall panel, Councilmember Zachary Ackerman (D–Ward 3), who is a recent University graduate, and then-County Commissioner Yousef Rabhi, who is now an Ann Arbor state representative, expressed concern that increased housing costs would continue to lower socioeconomic diversity within Ann Arbor as students move elsewhere in search of cheaper rent. “(Ann Arbor’s) diversity is slowly escaping us,” Rabhi said. “If we don’t work hard and make sure we have our full options on where to live, not only will our student body become less diverse, our community will become less diverse.” Yet, despite the commitment See HOUSING, Page 5

HOUSING From Page 4 by city officials to work towards increasing housing diversity in Washtenaw County, the issue remains at the forefront of the minds of both University students and city residents — especially in regards to the inf lux of luxury housing being constructed in downtown Ann Arbor. Cost of luxury housing After freshman year, students not living in University housing usually procure off-campus housing or choose to live in one of the numerous luxury apartments scattered across Ann Arbor, such as Landmark or Zaragon Place. However, with monthly rates ranging from from $1,059 to $1,889 per person, these apartments only cater to a certain percentage of the student body. As the high-rises were constructed, developers touted the supposed benefit of having

luxury apartments in the center of the city. They initially believed wealthy University students could afford the high rent prices, while the demand in the center of town caused rental prices for houses on the periphery of campus to drop. A local commercial real estate agent Peter Allen said though the apartments are expensive, the average University student can afford to pay for convenience and extra amenities. “The profile of students can afford these super ammenized, very convenient locations,” he said in an interview with the Ann Arbor News in 2012. However, this past spring, Ann Arbor students and residents reacted to the news of a new high-rise building, called the Collegian, which will be built on South University Avenue, with surprise and disgust. In a public Facebook post, University graduate Sara Otto expressed her discontent with the decision to redevelop the

South University area to make way for another luxury highrise. “As I get ready to graduate, it saddens me that there are plans to redevelop yet another block on South U and turn Ulrichs into ANOTHER luxury student apartment building,” Otto wrote. “See that tiny building in the corner of this picture? That’s Espresso Royale. This has been kept on the down low but it’s time students know about what’s happening to their campus.” In another recent Facebook post, LSA senior Darian Razdar wrote that neglect of affordable housing positions community members in uncertain circumstances. “The more I think about it, the more I’m getting fed up with the ‘luxury’ student housing boom in Ann Arbor,” he wrote. “Where will this leave students who cannot afford paying more than a few hundred dollars a month for rent? Where will it leave others in our community without secure access to

affordable housing and in precarious social and economic circumstances?” Razdar ended his statement with a call to action, urging students to join him, when he returns to Ann Arbor, to put pressure on developers. “If anyone is interested in putting pressure on the city and property developers, I’m planning to exchange with community benefits & housing rights activists when I get back to Ann Arbor, and would love some help,” he wrote. In an interview, Razdar said his passion for obtaining more affordable housing is fueled by his studies, as well as recent events, such as the Grenfell Tower fire in London last week where 79 people perished due to cheap, f lammable building materials. “I’m pretty passionate about housing rights as I study urbanism through my major in Social Theory and Practice,” he said. “The Grenfell See HOUSING, Page 6

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HOUSING QUIZ

Where should you live next year?

A guide to potential living options that fit your personality.

Add up your score to help you decide where to live next year. Here are your options: University Dorm (9-13 points), Apartment (14-22 points), Group House (23-31 points), or Greek Life House (32-36 points).

Which of the following How/where do you usually describes you on a study? Friday night in 1. Quietly alone in your dorm room. September?

2. With a group of one-three 1. In your room by friends at Starbucks or in a yourself freaking out study lounge. about being an adult. 3. At a large table in the 2. Hanging out with your confines of the main area of friends, going downtown to the ugli. bars, and having a great 4. Vibing to loud music at time. 3:00am because you have two 3. Finding a large group papers and a take home test to go to a party with and due by 8:00am and you thought ending up losing your college was as easy as high voice from screaming the school. lyrics to Mr. Brightside. 4. Having to be told what happened on Friday instead Which phrase(s)/word(s) of remembering any of it.

describes you the best?

1. Individuality 2. Love good company Where would you want 3. Organized; fun loving, social butterfly to study abroad? 4. Work hard, play harder 1. Thailand- somewhere off the beaten path and really get to know a new culture. What kind of music do you 2. Europe with 3 of my like to listen to? closest friends. 3. Not studying abroad- my 1. Not what may be trending- major doesn’t allow me to more alternative 4. Tel Aviv, Ibiza… A big 2. Popular music and chill city with lots of clubs vibes- Kygo, Chance 3. Whatever is on the radio! 4. Strictly EDM and rap… Kendrick and Lil Uzi all the way

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FROM THE DAILY From Page 2 with admissions. Denison and Williams fly in thousands of lowincome students to tour their campuses and provide those students specialized assistance with applications free of charge. These initiatives can help explain why these colleges have greater socioeconomic diversity on campus. In 1997, the state of Texas

passed a bill in which the top 10 percent of students in each high school in Texas receive automatic admission to any public university in the state. Though the bill was later ammended to allow universities like the University of Texas at Austin to limit automatic admits to the top 7 percent, this bill is still a good example for states and universites to follow. Although Texas’ 10 percent plan isn’t an entirely nuanced approach to

increasing diversity on campus, it’s a step in the right direction in increasing lower-income students’ access to top public universities. We believe that the University has a duty to act as an agent of upward social mobility. The University should streamline the financial aid process by removing the CSS Profile, while supplementing and increasing funding for programs like the HAIL Scholarship that are aimed at recruiting and

retaining students from lower socioeconomic status homes. Once students arrive on campus, the University must work to retain students by providing low-income students means to cover Ann Arbor’s lofty living costs. Diversity is what makes any institution strong, and without increased steps to improve socioeconomic diversity to make our campus welcoming for all students, the University risks remaining socioeconomically divided.

ALEXANDRA FRIEDMAN | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Letter to the Editor: Cooperative housing is the answer Dear Editorial Board, An entire op-ed was written about housing affordability in Ann Arbor, ending with a strong, resolute statement: Housing must be more affordable in Ann Arbor. Yet there was absolutely no mention of our most affordable, successful and long-lasting housing option in our city! Cooperative housing provides the most affordable housing for residents. Members of most houses pay less than $600 per month for rent, home-cooked meals, utilities and Wi-Fi. We own 19 buildings near campus. We are one of the oldest and largest cooperative housing organizations in the United States, second only to Berkeley. We even host a national cooperative housing conference every year in the Michigan Union, The NASCO Institute. How on Earth has the editorial board overlooked such a characteristic staple of Ann Arbor? How on Earth has this absolutely viable option for everyone not been brought forth? Housing cooperatives are absolutely the future. They are the solution. There are even non-student housing cooperatives near campus (Arbor Vitae) and cohousing units just outside of Ann Arbor (Great Oak, Touchstone and Sunward) with equally affordable pricing. From my experience, almost all of Ann Arbor’s activists, artists and engaged citizens live or have lived in a cooperative house. They are cultural centers. They are political centers. They are the answer.

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CARTOON BY FRANNIE MILLER

CARTOON BY JOE IOVINO

Housing Guide Timeline Begin talking to friends about potential living situations for, believe it or not, the year after next Find a partner: someone you definitely want to live with and can work with to find a group Solidify budget (speak with parents and potential roommates if necessary) Start formulating a group of roommates Start to solidify group

Things to keep in mind: Your partner should be looking in a similar budget range Groups are not set in stone, people will move around until fall These are simply preliminary steps, everything is subject to change Think about areas of campus you would like to live Think about living in house vs. apartment

Things to consider:

Start looking into potential housing companies

Will you be bringing a car to campus?

Find some favorite houses/apartments for different sized groups

In what area of campus are your classes typically located?

Finalize Group

Contact housing company and set up tours

Pick a handful of favorite houses/apartments to look at

Pick house/apartment

Read reviews/talk to friends about housing companies and landlords

Begin the lease signing process

Are you going to share a room?

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The Ultimate Housing Checklist How prepared are you to sign a lease?

Potential expenses: Do you know what utilities are included?

If unchecked: how much will your average monthly cost of water, heating, gas, air conditioning, and electricity be?

Do you know what furniture is included?

If unchecked: think about the cost of a bed, mattress, or couch

Do you know what appliances are included?

If unchecked: think about potential appliances that will need to be purchased (blender, toaster, pots, pans, washer, dryer)

Do you know if each bed space is equal in price?

If unchecked: learn if different rooms cost different amounts based on if they have a window, bigger closet space, or more square footage

Have you read all parts of your lease?

If unchecked: consider reading your entire lease, oftentimes hidden fees are often overlooked like initial signing fees, approval fees, application fees, or subleasing fees

Do you know your parking situation?

If unchecked: compare the benefits and costs to having a car at school, how much does parking cost?

Do you know if Wifi and cable are included?

If unchecked: look into the cost of monthly cable, set-up fees and wifi costs

If you have checked every box and appropriately considered the costs associated with each one, congrats you are ready to sign a lease!

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Incoming freshmen attempt to pay their way out of North Campus housing with little success DYLAN LACROIX Daily Staff Reporter

While many of her future classmates were eager to find fellow students also living in their residence halls at first-year student orientation this past month, LSA freshman Frances Bray was left in the dark. “Most people that I talked to who had already heard about their housing were on Central Campus or the Hill and no one had heard about being on North, so I assumed they were just going worst to best,” Bray said. Later, Bray would discover she was to be placed in Bursley Hall on North Campus, a 15- to 20-minute bus ride away from the University of Michigan’s Central Campus, where a majority of classes for firstyear students are held. Currently, University Housing offers 18 different residence halls and apartments for undergraduates to live in during the academic year. While most of these are located on Central Campus or in the Hill Neighborhood, just three are located on North Campus, comprising Baits Houses and Northwood III in addition to Bursley. After finding out her housing assignment, Bray was one of many taking to social media to find any possible different arrangements for the upcoming year. On a closed Facebook group for incoming firstyear students called “University of Michigan Class of 2021,” students placed on North Campus are offering to pay to make the switch to Central Campus. In an email interview, Bray said after discussing with her family, she was willing to pay upwards of $2,000 to fellow students to move to Central but came up short with students willing to take the offer. “We decided that we would have been willing to spend $2,500 to switch rooms, I knew it was a long shot and nothing ended up working

out,” Bray said. However, one of Bray’s main concerns with life on North is not the bus ride to Central every day but the inconvenience of the North Campus Recreational Building being closedfor the entirety of the 2017-2018 academic year due to renovations. “The biggest impact I think it will have on my freshman year is not having a rec center that’s convenient for me,” Bray said. In an attempt to not fully remove Recreational Sports from North Campus, a small limitedspace within Bursley Hall will be temporarily transformed into an exercise space for regular patrons in addition to the over 1,200 students who will be living in Bursley Hall alone. With so many students seeking to get off of living on North Campus freshman year, Engineering freshman Oliver Li decided to get creative by making an online fundraiser to help get his friend, fellow LSA freshman Mahir Taqbeem, to Central Campus. In an email interview, Taqbeem said he was one of the last of his friends to get his housing assignment after they had all found out they’d be living on Central Campus. “I was waiting pretty long to get my assignment and all my friends got their housing a while ago, so my anticipation was building every day,” Taqbeem said. “I was actually pretty confident that I would get something on Central, and I guess that was my mistake.” Since most first-year students will be on Central Campus, he feels the social environment on North will be much more unfriendly and spaced apart, fearing he won’t have the same social opportunities as other students. “I’m worried I won’t make as many friends freshman year, but I’m sure I will get over it if I do end up living in north,” Taqbeem said. “I heard that North Campus and Baits II especially were more antisocial.”

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With the fall semester less than six weeks away, Taqbeem is rushing to find an alternative option on Central Campus. “I’m desperate,” Taqbeem said. “To get on to any Central Campus dorm, I would be willing to offer up to $500 plus football season tickets.” LSA freshman Nina Chiuchiarelli said after waiting for months to receive her housing assignment for the upcoming semester, she began to feel frantic but still believed she wouldn’t be placed in Bursley Hall on North Campus. “June and July passed, and we still had not received our assignment; I started to get a little frantic, but again never thought of North Campus,” Chiuchiarelli said. Once receiving her housing placement, Chiuchiarelli said she looked to online reviews of the dorm to learn more about where she’d be living and decided she

wanted to switch. “I will no longer, technically speaking, be moving into U of M’s campus, but instead a foreign place two miles away from where all of my classes are,” Chiuchiarelli wrote in an email. “I looked online for maybe two hours after finding out where I would be living this year and every single review was a poor one that discussed the isolation, lack of social life, horrible bus rides, the earlier wake up that each student not in engineering must endure (I have 8 AMs every day and again have no classes on North Campus) and just the simple fact that I do not get to reside with the majority of my peers, or the people that I will be in classes with.” For LSA freshman Davinder Sekhon, the anticipation of receiving the email for housing assignments was like applying to college all over again. See NORTH CAMPUS, Page 16

NORTH CAMPUS From Page 15 “Waiting for housing assignment was a bit like waiting for acceptance letters all over again, with Central Campus being like getting accepted and North Campus being rejected,” Sekhon said. For Sekhon, having to live on North Campus came with a significant negative impact on his first-year experience. “I guess I always just generally accepted that North Campus was really bad for social life and getting to classes,” he said. “I had really wanted Central Campus because the social aspect of college is a big thing for me.” Unlike other freshman placed on North Campus, Sekhon said he has come to terms with living on North and doesn’t feel the need to make any offers to move to Central. “I think I’ve just accepted North Campus now and to be honest the more I think about it, the less I come to care about it,” Sekhon said. “Everyone in my group chats for FILE PHOTO/Daily Baits II seem cool and we already have made ourselves a Students have voiced concerns with being placed in housing complexes on North Campus. nice community.”

HOUSING From Page 5 Business junior Jake Allain, who lived in the Varsity apartments, said he chose the apartments simply because he procrastinated on procuring housing for the next year. “I was kind of late to the game, I was super busy with school and stuff, so I just put off searching for housing, and my dad has money so I just kind of didn’t really worry about the price, so last minute I just kind of snagged a two bedroom apartment,” he said. Allain added developers recognize the demand for luxury apartments, which could lower prices for off-campus housing, but he believes they still neglect the needs of lower-income students — needs that continue to not be met. “I’d probably say that obviously on the basis of competing, prices could lower, but at the same time, you have people in Zaragon paying 16 to 17 hundred dollars a month, same with Arbor Blu,” he said. “I think the demand is there for these pricy apartments, and people and developers are realizing this so they’re just like ‘...we are just going to keep building these because the demand is there,’ when obviously there’s totally a neglect in cheaper housing, which I mean is super tough, especially when you have a

growing population around Ann Arbor, so it’s just going to keep rising.” Central Student Government housing iniatives Public Policy senior Nadine Jawad, CSG Vice President, has spent her University career advocating for increasing affordable student housing, and a priority of her new position is to continue to drive housing initiatives for the upcoming year. In an email interview, Jawad pointed to her work as senior policy advisor for CSG last year, collaborating with former CSG leadership, as a launching point for making affordable housing a platform for her administration. “Last year I had the opportunity to work on the executive team ran by David and Micah,” she wrote. “When they were running for their positions, a lot of students expressed sincere concern on the issue. As a result, my work as senior policy adviser focused heavily on understanding and thinking about ways we can work with the current housing issues on campus and also figure out what it was students were looking to see. The topic was really complex and there is a lot of elements of affordable housing options that tie back to the great city of Ann Arbor, so given the research, (CSG President and LSA senior) Anushka (Sarkar) and I decided that

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this would also be a priority of our administration.” Jawad explained most of last year was spent developing a relationship with City Council, as well as local students, in order to better address the multi-faceted issue of increasing housing options for students and residents. “While there are many dimensions to tackling this problem, the first we believe was essential was developing a relationship with City Council in Ann Arbor,” she wrote. “As a consequence of the effort, City Council passed an ordinance creating a committee of students who meet to advise City Council on student concerns — with representation from not just Umich, but other local schools, even from Ann Arbor Pioneer High School. At these meetings, CSG representatives have begun to work to think about ways we can approach the already very highly worked on topic of making housing more affordable for both students and Ann Arbor residents.” Over the past year, CSG also hosted a town hall which gathered together local officials — from City Council to University staff — in order to discuss how students can become part of the housing advocacy process, as well as began work on an affordable housing guide for students to use in their search. Jawad noted the crux of the

issue is ensuring that students, of all socioeconomic backgrounds, have access to affordable housing, and CSG will continue to work to achieve this goal over the upcoming year. “Overall, thinking about affordable housing is really a matter of equity,” she wrote. “We want to use our voices as elected members of CSG to really advocate for options for students to make campus accessible and affordable. The issue is incredibly complex and many people all over our county are working to address the ever-increasing issue of access to affordable housing. We are always looking for new ways to make a dent on this topic and will continue in the year to come to think about the issue with new members of our team.” As CSG advocates to lower the cost of rent for houses offcampus, another student group, the Residence Halls Association, is working to lower the price of residence halls. University housing negotiations A University student’s first experience with housing in Ann Arbor is through the campus residence hall system, where freshmen are required to spend their first academic year. According to the University, a standard double room for the 2017-2018 school year will cost about $11,198. This is a 3