KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Fourth-year
mathematics student Genevieve Correa signs a petition in support of
BruinGo!, a free bus ridership program, during Monday’s housing
fair.
By Rachel Makabi
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
As deadlines for leasing apartments draw near, students attended
“The Quality of Life Housing Fair” in Westwood Plaza
Monday to get help in their search for housing.
The Undergraduate Student Association Council and the On-Campus
Housing Council co-sponsored the fair to give students options in
their searches and help them learn their legal rights as tenants by
passing out flyers.
“We all come from the dorm so we know it is a difficult
transition,” said USAC Internal Vice President Kennisha
Austin. “This is something that will benefit all students so
they can make an educated response for themselves.”
Representatives from organizations, including Student Legal
Services and Bruin Go! ““ which is trying to maintain free use
of the Big Blue Bus for UCLA students, staff and faculty, provided
information.
SLS director Liz Kemper said most students are not aware of
their legal rights and do not know how to deal with landlords when
they have problems.
“You see a lot of cases where students make deposits that
they thought were too high,” Kemper said, adding that many
students also don’t realize that their landlords must take
care of repairs in the apartment.
In addition, both USAC and the OCHC cited the “rising
costs” of housing in Westwood as a major obstacle for
students, but disagreed about how to deal with the issue.
USAC External Vice President Evan Okamura said the university
should assist with student housing so that students don’t
have to pay for it on their own.
USAC drafted a petition, and is requesting a letter of support
from State Assemblyman Carl Washington, D-Compton, who promised to
take housing issues to the state assembly after visiting the campus
in October.
“We have been following up on him, but we haven’t
really asked him to do anything concrete yet,” Okamura
said.
OCHC chair Adam Harmetz, a second-year computer science student,
said although he supports the fair, he disagrees with USAC’s
platform to get the university to finance student housing.
“We feel there is absolutely no guarantee it will decrease
housing costs,” Harmetz said. “Where is the money going
to come from? The state budget is not going to give extra money for
housing. It would ultimately just cut from another education
program.”