Proliferating Housing Costs at U of U
As many University of Utah residents already understand, housing is anything but cheap. Housing has been one of the hottest issues surrounding the U, and management is doing everything they can to ease some of the stress of current and incoming students. Many of the biggest concerns people have is there is not enough on campus housing options. There have also been many reports of people wanting to come to the U, but can’t find housing or affordable housing and have to opt for a different institution.
Recently, the Salt Lake Tribune published an article stating housing prices for the University of Utah's West Village Housing were going to be increased dramatically next August. The article outlines rent prices going up from $980 a month to $1,750 a month for a two bedroom apartment. That is over a 79% rent increase in just one year! Many people have reported not being able to afford the increase and will need to pick up extra jobs to pay for the increase.
Conversely, the U has reportedly had a terrible time maintaining the aging West Village infrastructure and has noted reports of pipes breaking and other maintenance issues on the rise. The buildings are also not up to the latest seismic code because of how old they are. West Village is an extremely old building the U has completely paid off years back, thus being the reason for such cheap rents.
Overall it is very unfortunate that rents have to rise to such high numbers and I don’t believe anyone is happy about that. Housing remains to be one of the biggest issues the U is facing and it will be interesting to see how they manage the upcoming problems in the future.