A boarded-up building at 611 Gayley Ave., with fences twisted away from the frames, trash littering its yard and faded Greek letters painted on its walls, has sat between its polished and painted neighbors along fraternity row for years.
The empty house, belonging to the fraternity Zeta Psi, has been uninhabited since 2005, but now Zeta Psi and the Interfraternity Council are addressing the problems it poses.
Zeta Psi is still active on campus, but is housed in an apartment complex rather than a house, Interfraternity Greek Adviser Mande Adams said.
Inactive or nonhoused fraternities often rent or retain their old properties, Adams said.
“It is common if a fraternity is inactive on campus to help another fraternity out and extend the hand of inter-fraternalism and rent out their facilities,” she said.
Their old house on Gayley Avenue was rented out to another fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, for 10 years spanning 1995 to 2005, said Ben Hejna, a fourth-year psychology student and member of Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Zeta Psi decided to stop renting out their house in 2005 because they were considering moving back into it, but a tree fell into the house that winter, Hejna said.
While it is currently housed in an apartment complex, the Zeta Psi fraternity would like to move into a house, said Eugene Barash, a fourth-year history and psychology student and member of Theta Chi.
“Zeta Psi has been trying to build a new house for a while,” Barash said.
Members of Zeta Psi did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Hejna said the house requires construction to become livable again, which the fraternity has not yet begun, possibly because the Zeta Psi membership at UCLA is still small.
“They have less than 16 brothers, maybe. … I think the alumni are waiting to see if they grow before they do construction on the house,” Hejna said.
Many brothers in Sigma Phi Epsilon regret that they had not been allowed to continue renting from Zeta Psi, Hejna said. He also said that Zeta Psi is missing the opportunity for making money through rent, as the house is no longer habitable.
“Even when we were renting there were constant problems ““ plumbing, electric … now the building is probably beyond repair,” Hejna said.
Now that the house has fallen into disrepair, people have begun to complain about its appearance and the problems it poses to the neighborhood.
Homeless people often occupy the house, previously starting fires in it, and rats have bothered neighboring fraternities Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Nu, Hejna said.
The council is aware of the problem the old house causes, Interfraternity Vice President of Public Relations John Larson said.
“We’ve been fighting a battle to get it taken care of. … We’ve had our hands tied,” he said.
The Interfraternity Council is not involved with issues of property management, and at most they can encourage the Zeta Psi organization to act, Adams said.
In addition to Zeta Psi, there are other fraternities that have moved away or become defunct but retained their properties. Hejna said there is another empty house where Theta Xi, which no longer has a chapter at UCLA, used to live, that is now rented out to boarders. He said there is also an empty lot on Strathmore Avenue that used to belong to Phi Kappa Sigma, a now inactive fraternity at UCLA.