Housing options getting scarce near campus

URBANA — Options are running out for students hoping to find housing around the University of Illinois campus, even if they do accept incentives to cancel their contracts with University Housing.

Just less than a month out from the first day of classes, money can’t solve everything: Most locations have already been leased for the coming year.

For example, Ramshaw Real Estate, which manages more than 1,500 apartments, said it doesn’t have a single apartment left in and around what manager Jay Ramshaw referred to as “campus proper.”

There are a few options left closer to Lincoln Avenue, but Ramshaw is “getting close to filling those too.”

“We’ve been ahead of our numbers all year,” Ramshaw said.

Ramshaw said he was confused as to why the UI is having trouble making space for all of the incoming students this late in the game.

“They know they have a finite amount of certified beds,” he said. “They want to boast every year that the undergraduate class is growing.”

Looking back at data from this summer, Ramshaw did see a noticeable uptick in applications for apartments over the last three weeks, but he couldn’t attribute that exclusively to the UI incentivizing students to find other places to live.

“There are so many things that go into it,” Ramshaw said.

Ted Pfeffer owns Pfeffer Properties, which is smaller than Ramshaw but includes several rental options around the heart of Campustown.

He’s totally booked out save for one five-bedroom house, which he figures is just because there aren’t that many groups of five people who want to live together.

This actually represents a very typical year for Pfeffer.

“I haven’t had a vacancy in over years,” he said.

Pfeffer also said that there is a rush to find housing at the end of nearly every summer.

He didn’t attribute it to anything related to University Housing, but to student groups who typically get accepted a little later in the year, such as graduate or foreign students.

Marsha Bowen, a property assistant and manager at Community Property Management, said that company’s apartments are also “pretty much full,” though most leases were signed in the spring.

Spring isn’t even considered an early time to lease: Students lined up ’round the block back in October to snag apartments from JSM Living, which owns a lot of properties right on and around campus.

Andi King of JSM Living confirmed that all of their properties are fully leased out for the coming school year.

However, apartments are still available near campus at a range of prices as long as students are willing to share a suite with as many as three other people.

Single rooms with shared common spaces start around $400 from multiple property companies and do often include furniture and utilities.

A few more private spaces, such as studio or one-bedroom apartments, are also still available near campus in the $500-$600 range, but most are listed for over $700.

The incentive University Housing offered to help offset costs for students willing to cancel their contracts included $2,000 credited to their student accounts and 100 free meal swipes.