Finding an apartment in Westwood can be a challenge, but a team of students is trying to change that.
The General Representative office of Monica Kohles is working to create a database of all of the apartments in Westwood, featuring floor plans, pictures, prices and more.
The Westwood apartment review will be accessible through the Bruin Walk Web site, and will have a similar rating system to the one students use to rate and gain information about professors.
Addison Huddy, the project director, said there is a big need for students to understand the apartments they are renting and that students often search blindly when looking for apartments.
“This will hold the landlords more accountable,” Huddy said. “The transition from dorms to apartments can be hard for students and they don’t know how to handle landlords.”
Students will essentially be helping their fellow Bruins find a suitable living space through the site.
The Web site will allow students to search for characteristics they are looking for in a prospective apartment, Huddy said. It will allow current tenants to add comments and allow prospective tenants to ask questions. Between 210 and 250 apartments will be featured on the Web site.
General Representative Monica Kohles said she had the idea for the project when she was searching for her own apartment. She said when she was exploring apartment options she saw how difficult it was.
“Students often go to larger complexes simply because it’s easier,” Kohles said. “This would be a great way for students to look at other apartments that are probably comparable.”
Huddy, as well as his team of Matt Snider, Matt McLaughlin, Aaron Farber and Scott Hanford, have been putting hours and hours of manpower into this project, collecting data and taking pictures of all the apartments, Huddy said.
Once the project is complete and running, Student Media will likely sustain the project, he said. Logistics are currently being worked out.
Kohles’ team is pairing with Student Media because she does not want her project to die out after her term as general representative ends, and wants to pass off the project to a student group that would be able to maintain it.
Student Media would be responsible for maintaining and updating the side, said Huddy.
“We’re the catalyst and then we’re going to pass it off to them,” said Matt Snider, a third-year computer science student who is working with Student Media and writing the computer program for the site. Snider also knows from personal experience what a disaster it can be for students to try and find an apartment.
“This is a really useful project,” Snider said. “Students should get excited; it’s going to be really neat.”
Any money raised by advertisements on the Web site will go back to the Student Media and the student body. No money would go back to USAC, said Huddy.
Bruin Walk has already undergone some major renovations this year, with a new format for students to use.
Future renovations will be revealed in the beginning of February, which is also when Huddy said all the apartment information will become available.