Off-Grounds housing at the University has come a long way.
With the recent opening of the Student Council off-Grounds housing office and plans in the works for a City inspector to evaluate the quality of privately-owned student housing, improving the off-Grounds experience for students has become a major priority for Council, as well as University and City officials over the past year.
Off-Grounds Housing Manager Vicki Hawes said she began her position as director of Council's new off-Grounds housing office last year intent on fulfilling the goals, plans and dreams of Council.
"What I walked into was a very well laid out plan from Student Council," Hawes said. "Last year, Council envisioned this office. I just took their dream and their plan and have tried to work at it their way."
Hunting for housing
Together, Hawes and Council have created an office and an intricate Web site designed to aid students in the quest for off-Grounds housing.
The office "is a fantastic resource that has gotten a lot of work," Council President Noah Sullivan said.
Students can visit the office or its Web site to find out anything they need to know about off-Grounds housing, Sullivan said.
"It has all that the students need to know -- the information that students aren't aware that they need to know [such as] trash pick-up" information, he said. "We have natural ignorance. We don't know what we need to know. The Web site is so that students can go to one place and get lots of information."
Hawes said she and Council ultimately plan to have even more information on the Web site that could prove valuable for students.
"I've contacted off-campus partners for available listings for the University population," she said.
Hawes said Eagles Landing and other individual landlords already are advertising and listing their properties on the Web site.
"We hope to eventually have the other realtors in town," Hawes said. "There is a fee for advertising property on the Web site."
Hawes said the off-Grounds housing office's efforts are for the convenience and well-being of the students.
"The hope is that the Web site will be one-stop shopping," she said.
The Web site enables students to look for properties with specific qualities and characteristics.
"You can shop for the number of bedrooms, for the location," Hawes said. "You can specify that you are looking for a roommate or if you are looking for a room in an apartment."
She added that there is also a bulletin board on the site with information about furniture for sale.
Hawes added that she ultimately plans to add other convenient elements for students on the site, such as a message board where students can solicit and offer rides home.
City collaboration
The Web site is just one of the housing projects that Council and the University are developing.
The University, in coordination with the City, recently hired an inspector to ensure student safety in off-Grounds accommodations.
The University will pay the inspector's $68,500 salary during a two-year trial period.
Hawes said she will touch base regularly with the City inspector so she can inform students about important developments in off-Grounds housing properties.
"The plan is that I will meet with him every month just to keep abreast of what the city is doing with their inspections," Hawes said.
Sullivan cited 14th Street properties, many of which are single-family homes more than 70 years old, as housing that would benefit from City inspections.
Demanding rights
Council also is working to ensure the rights of students who decide to live off-Grounds.
Sullivan said Council is working on expanding a Student Tenant Bill of Rights to ensure students are treated fairly in their leasing arrangements.
"It's what landlords will agree to do with student tenants," Sullivan said.
He said Council has been reviewing the Virginia Landlord Tenant Act, a state law pertaining to rental properties. Virginia legislation offers a lot of protection for student tenants, Sullivan said.
"Students have specific needs that aren't covered underneath the act that are very reasonable," he said. "For example, if a property won't be ready for the beginning of the year, a student should be able to get out of the lease."
Sullivan said Council also is working on minimizing the prevalence of students automatically renewing leases, which can trap uaware students in sub-par accommodations for multiple years.
"Students have to pay a penalty to get out of a lease if they want to live somewhere else after a year," he said.
Council has been working with the Blue Ridge Apartment Council to get the right wording in its expanded Student Tenant Bill of Rights to prevent such predatory leases, he added.
According to Sullivan, what students are asking for in the Bill of Rights is perfectly reasonable. The landlords, he added, have not been easy to work with.
"The landlords as a group don't want students to be organized," Sullivan said. "While there are landlords who are willing, there are others that are threatened by this."
Sullivan said he is confident that there eventually will be some sort of agreement between the University and landlords.
"This is to serve nothing else but student interest," he said. "We have a right as students to organize and assert our rights as consumers in the market."
Living the good life
Some students said they do not have problems with their landlords.
"Sometimes our landlord takes a long time to do things, but other than that, he's very laid back and he gets to most problems that are in the house," fourth-year College student Carolyn McMillan said. "He just doesn't get to things as quickly as you'd like."
McMillan, who lives on Jefferson Park Avenue, said she had no problem finding her house to rent. McMillian said one of her roommates simply saw that it was for rent when she was driving around searching for available properties.
McMillan said she recommends off-Grounds housing to first-year students especially since the University will be making the process easier on students.
"I have my own room, and we live in a big house so I can park my car here," McMillan said. "It makes it feel more at home."
She said there are definite benefits to living away from Off-Grounds hot spots like Wertland Street, 14th Street, and Rugby Road.
"I think 14th Street is expensive," McMillan said. "I live down JPA, and it's not that far from campus. It is a five minute bike ride to Grounds, and it is close to the buses."
McMillan said she is pleased with her decision to live off Grounds the past three years.
Third-year College student Jeanne Marie Nuara, who lives on 14th street, also said her experience living off Grounds has been more positive than the complaints of others suggest.
"We have had no problems with finding [apartments] or re-leasing," Nuara said. "We have no problems with our neighbors, and everyone is so friendly. I love living off-Grounds. You have all your own utilities, and balconies. It is so much better than living in the dorms, and there is more independence."
Ronda Puryear, vice president of marketing for Management Services Corporation, said most University students prove to be excellent tenants.
"Students are great to work with," she said.
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