UCLA plans low-cost housing for disadvantaged students

UCLA plans to open new low-cost housing apartments next year for underserved students.

The housing project will be open to all students, but UCLA will reserve spaces for students from various groups under the Bruin Resource Center, including undocumented students, veterans and former foster youth, said Monroe Gorden Jr., interim vice chancellor of student affairs, in an interview with the Daily Bruin editorial board.

“This isn’t a new concept,” Gorden said. “We want to provide a lower-cost housing system; this has been a priority for some time.”

Student groups who focus on undocumented student retention, including Providing Access to Higher Success for Undocumented Students and Undocumented Students Promoting Advancement, Retention, and Community have been negotiating specific details with the Office of Residential Life and UCLA Housing.

The initiative will tentatively reduce costs to about $450 to $590 per month per person. The specific rent amount each student will pay will depend on the type of apartment students select.

The university will renovate one of its existing structures, but has not specified which building, Gorden said.

For example, the university might take a double-occupancy unit and add beds to make it triple- or quadruple-occupancy, according to USPARC and PATHS for US.

The university is consulting with the fire marshal to determine how many people will be able to live in each apartment.

USPARC and PATHS for US said they hope to work with UCLA Development to streamline scholarship funds to subsidize the cost of housing. They also said they are working on a proposal to recognize students for their services to the community in exchange for room and board in the new apartments.

Students interested in applying for this housing initiative should have already filled out their university housing applications. They should also fill out an intake form by Friday and contact Sarah Quinn, director of UCLA Housing, at squinn@ha.ucla.edu.