As difficult economic times persist, the high price of housing in the West Campus area is causing students to consider cheaper alternatives.
With an average price per bedroom of more than $600 a month, the area has become increasingly unaffordable for most students.
“Most one-bedroom apartments and studios around the campus area start at the lowest [at] $600, but I would say on the average of closer to $800 to $900,” said Chris Zaiontz of Skylight Living, a realty office within a few blocks of UT. “Of course the newer, loft-style condos and some of the newer buildings can go anywhere from $1,000 or $1,500 per bedroom.”
Many of the large apartment complexes also do not include the cost of a parking pass and some utilities in their pricing.
As a result of these high prices, students are beginning to consider more novel living arrangements, such as cooperative houses.
“Our members live together and work together, so that’s how we can offer low rates,” said Kim Penna from College Houses Cooperatives.
The company has operated in the UT area since 1965 and offers affordable housing throughout West Campus. Penna said that all the responsibilities usually taken care of by property management in normal apartment complexes are transferred to students, which helps lower the cost of living.
Some students have turned to more economical areas such as North Campus and Hyde Park. Even lower pricing can be found across Interstate Highway 35 on Riverside Drive, where bedrooms cost as low as $450 a month in complexes such as Longhorn Landing and University Estates.
In June, the Central Austin Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee showed support for new regulations that could further increase campus housing. Several neighborhood associations within CANPAC are also in favor of MF-4, or multifamily, zoning regulations that would limit the number of shared living spaces in the area and would push co-op housing and traditional group housing farther from campus.
Historically, West Campus has often been a hub of expansion and growth. According to the Austin Planning and Development Review Department website, the area has been home to the Adams Extract Factory as well as the location of a community of freed African-American slaves called “Wheatsville,” founded by former slave James Wheat.
Organizations such as CANPAC, however, are seeking to restrict co-op housing and fraternity and sorority houses from being built or moving to single-family neighborhoods near campus.
“Most of the objections that have been raised have to do with behavior,” said Robert Heil, a senior planner in the Planning and Development Review Department. “[It] is really kind of a different issue than land-use discussion.”
John Lawler, a University-wide representative for Student Government who is also a member of both CANPAC and University Area Partners, said that as a result of limited student input on issues of zoning in the past, there are plans to get students more involved with the issue this year.
“We’d like to have another town hall [meeting] just to basically gauge, what are the issues that students are facing in West Campus?” he said.
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