Planned renovation and/or construction of apartments in the South Hill complex off Taylor Avenue will require some of the residents to relocate within the next two months, according to Housing officials.
Residents of 12 apartment units in South Hill, a mix of students, graduate students and faculty and staff, were informed Monday they would have to move out of the current apartments. Depending on the apartment, the residents will have to vacate either at the end of July, end of August, or the end of May 2025.
Housing officials hope to house as many as possible of the affected residents in other on-campus housing locations. South Hill residents were invited by email Monday morning to attend a Town Hall meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, less than eight-hour notice.
The Town Hall was led by Housing and Residence Life and Auxiliary Services staff, including Julie Kerr, Associate Director of Housing Operations and Campus Servies, Corey Ray, Director of Housing a Residence Life and Cami McClure, Assistant Vice President of Auxiliary Services.
When asked about why residents received such seemingly short notice about being relocated, McClure responded: “It’s not that it’s short notice; we have to start at some point, and this is the best time to do it. We wanted to give as much time as possible.”
Affected areas include apartments 1011, 1012, 1016 and 1020 – expected to vacate by July 15, 2024 – apartments 502, 510, 514, 518, 524 and 528 – expected to vacate by Aug. 30, 2024 – and apartments 418, 486, 492 and 506 – expected to vacate by May 30, 2025. Those being forced to move will be assigned new units by the housing staff, with the soonest scheduled move being less than two months away.
The staff explained that current renters could access a housing application on their website from May 1 to May 15 and fill it out as normal to formally declare their intent to remain living on campus and receive a new apartment in exchange for their current unit.
“If you don’t complete [the application] by May 10, we’re going to take that as your notice of vacate,” said Kerr. “[But] we’re not kicking you out. We’re not making you move off campus.”
The time of when an application is submitted does not affect the applicant’s ability to receive housing, Kerr said. However, minutes later, she added, “the sooner you do [the application], the easier it is to put the puzzle pieces together to best accommodate individuals.” She added that if applicants waited until May 10 to fill out the form, numbers would become much more limited, and they would lack the ability to move students around as much.
One attendee asked if rent pricing would be affected by this forced move, as the apartments that the university intends to move residents into currently cost more than the old units.
Housing staff responded that they intended to take current rent cost into consideration but that there was a scheduled rent increase of 1.5 to 3% regardless of moving.
A student also asked if the size of their apartment would change, to which one of the staff responded that they would do their best to work directly with individuals to find the best option possible.
The Town Hall failed to ease the worries of residents who plan to be off campus or out of state during the time of their scheduled move, but Kerr affirmed that she was more than willing to work out each specific situation with individuals to make the process as smooth as possible.
Ray added, “We can give you a week to move stuff – it doesn’t have to be all in one day or overnight. There are options based on where you’re [living] at now and where you’re moving.”
Town Hall attendees also expressed concern at faculty staff housing being disrupted during this construction process, to which they were assured that their moving process would be the same as all other South Hill Apartments inhabitants.
UI recently placed a two-year time limit on staff housing, claiming that their main concerns lay with housing students and that, as enrollment increased, availability for on-campus staff housing would decrease. This caused alarm among employees who were concerned about being displaced after living on-campus for years and for those with families and children who could only afford to live in a university-owned building.
One such employee explained that they were currently living in one of the two four-bedroom apartments that is scheduled for construction with their three children and, with no guarantee of being able to move into another four-bedroom unit, they feared that they would be facing a substantial obstacle.
“This [the relocation information and schedule] would have been useful information a couple months ago, before 98% of the housing for the fall was already taken,” the resident told the panel.
Kerr said that involuntary move would have no effect on this two-year limit, and those approaching the end of their second term on campus would still be required to relocate off campus.
Despite having no set dates to begin groundwork on construction, UI is insisting on such immediate relocation due to potential site preparation and taking down existing structures.
The goal of the new construction is to create a more efficient layout, set up in a grid-like structure as opposed to just following the lay of the land, as the current apartments do.
Rebekah Weaver can be reached at [email protected].
Alisa
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