Westwood housing rates on the rise

  CHRIS BACKLEY/Daily Bruin Many students who are beginning
to look for apartments for next year have noticed many complexes
will be raising their rates.

By Kelly Rayburn
Daily Bruin Contributor Saurabh Kikani, a fourth-year political
science student, has lived in the same two-bedroom apartment on
Veteran Avenue since 1999. After the first year, his rent went up
$100, from $1,750 to $1,850, so he and his roommates had to dole
out an extra $25 a month. While the increase may not have been
pleasant, it was understandable ““ after all, Westwood housing
is not cheap. But recently, Kikani and his roommates received
notice that for next year their rent would increase again ““
this time by $300. After getting notice of the rent increase, the
four will be searching for a new place. Kikani said he does not
really know why the rent jumped up so much. “It’s
unexplainable,” he said. “We’re assuming rent is
going up all around Westwood.” “It’s pretty
ridiculous,” he continued. Though Kikani said they would
prefer something in or near Westwood, he said they may look in
Palms, Culver City or Santa Monica “if that’s what it
takes.” “It’s just a headache,” he said.
“You want to try to be as close to UCLA as possible. If
you’re too far away it could affect your studies. You have to
deal with things like traffic.” With the apartment-hunting
season coming soon, Kikani is not the only one with a headache.
Many students are beginning to feel apprehensive about their
chances of finding affordable and agreeable housing near a school
that relies heavily on the private sector to house its students.
With increasing rents and high student enrollment, March might mean
madness, even if you aren’t a college basketball fan.

Rising Rents During the recession of the early 1990s, Westwood
apartments were easier to come by, and at a cheaper price.
Vacancies were high and rent was relatively low compared to rents
in other parts of West Los Angeles or West Hollywood.
“Landlords really had to advertise,” said Frank
Montana, assistant director of UCLA Housing Services.
“Sometimes they’d offer incentives, like buying
students their books or giving them a moped.” But as the
economy strengthened, competition for housing grew, and the vacancy
rate decreased. In the past five years, Westwood rents have soared.
Today, vacancy rates are under 5 percent in Westwood, Montana said.
“Anytime the vacancy factor is below 5 percent, that puts the
landlord in a good spot,” he added. A low vacancy rate can
mean it is easier for landlords to get the rent they want. In the
past three years, the rent for single-bedroom apartments has gone
up by an average of 13.3 percent per year, and doubles by 6.6
percent annually. In the fall of 1997, an average Westwood
one-bedroom cost $940. Today, students pay an average of $1,315.
Rents in the area are increasing despite rent stabilization
ordinances. “There is rent control even though you
can’t really say that word,” said Shelley Taylor,
director of the North Village Improvement Committee and a Westwood
homeowner. Westwood complexes are subject to Los Angeles’
rent stabilization ordinances, unless they were built after October
1978. If the complex were built before October of 1978, a landlord
can raise rent 3 percent annually, with an additional percent each
for electricity and gas if the landlord covers those costs. But if
there is a tenant change, the landlord can raise rent as much as
ten percent. If tenants vacate their apartment, the landlord can
charge market price. “If tenants vacate, the landlord can
double the rent, triple the rent, whatever he’d like,”
said Elizabeth Kemper, a counseling attorney at UCLA’s
Student Legal Services. L.A.’s rent stabilization may not do
much for students, who tend to move in and out of apartments
frequently. Rent control was never really meant to benefit students
anyway, said Bill DuBrowa, a senior vice president at the Westwood
branch of Grubb & Ellis, a commercial real estate company.
“The basis for rent control was to keep the rent stable
theoretically for elderly people that were more on a fixed
income,” he said. Apartment pricing in Westwood is
“absolutely a matter of supply and demand,” according
to DuBrowa. If rental rates are left to the supply and demand
mechanism, there is no telling whether or not they will continue to
increase. “Trying to predict what the increases might be for
this coming fall might be difficult,” said Montana.
“These landlords don’t all get together and decide what
the rents are going to be.” But many students, like Kikani,
have received notice that their rents will be increasing. Bill
Packer, a fourth-year student who lives in an apartment on
Landfair, said that he has lived in the same apartment for three
years, and every year the rent has gone up $100. “It will
increase $100 again,” he said. Even those who have not yet
received notice from their landlords are skeptical.
“We’re 99.9 percent sure our rent will increase
again,” said Geoff Oki, a fourth-year design student who has
lived in the same Roebling apartment for two years.

Outside Westwood: Is the grass greener? Second-year student
Robert Ly said he probably will not even look for a place in
Westwood. “There are not that many apartments available near
campus for that many people,” he said. “I’m going
to look for something in the Valley.” Many students will turn
their eyes outside of Westwood, to Santa Monica, Brentwood, Culver
City, Palms or elsewhere. Fernando Guayasamin, a third-year
engineering student, has a lease for an apartment south of Wilshire
Boulevard that will run out before the end of this academic year.
The landlord of his apartment complex renovated it, and then asked
for much more money. Guayasamin lives in a two-bedroom apartment
with three other roommates. Currently they pay $1,850 a month. The
manager is asking for $2,500 if they want to stay, he said.
“We’re moving out,” Guayasamin said. “We
can’t afford it.” “We’re looking at Santa
Monica as well as Westwood ““ but the farther away we get, the
better it has to be.” But students might not have much luck
outside Westwood either. In fact, last year an average two-bedroom
apartment in Santa Monica was about $1,675 per month, $65 more than
a similar apartment in Westwood or Brentwood. Culver City and
Palms, though, were much cheaper. The average two-bedroom apartment
in Palms was $1,085, and in Culver City, $1,040. But as students
move farther and farther away from campus, they have to deal with
other problems, such as traffic, parking or bus schedules, that
they would be able to avoid if they lived within walking distance
of campus. For many students, finding an off-campus apartment is
the only choice. First-year students, however, have the option of
living on-campus for a second year. Though the on-campus housing
department has not released next year’s room and board price,
last year the price of on-campus housing went up about 5 percent.
Fraternity and sorority houses can be a cheaper option for students
who are in the Greek system. For example, Zeta Beta Tau
“live-ins” pay $685 per month for room, board, meals
and fraternity dues. Fees will not be raised next year, according
to ZBT’s treasurer Marc Levy. Pi Beta Phi sorority sisters
pay $810 per quarter to live in the sorority house, according to
their treasurer Kate Dwyer. Rent may or may not go up next year,
Dwyer said.

Just L.A.? “I know why people are upset, but compared to
San Francisco the prices down here are great,” said Shange
Petrini, a third-year transfer student from UC Berkeley. The
housing situation for Berkeley students is worse than it is for
UCLA students, Petrini said. Student leaders at UC Berkeley have
launched a campaign to persuade the UC Board of Regents to allow
universities to request state money for more campus housing,
according to a recent article in the Contra Costa Times.
One-bedroom apartments in Berkeley are listed at between $1,100 and
$1,850, according to the article. UC Berkeley, like UCLA, is able
to provide housing for less than 30 percent of its students.
Students at other UC schools, though, pay less than students at
either Berkeley or UCLA. A UC Santa Barbara student can expect to
pay $850 for a one-bedroom apartment in a beach community like Isla
Vista, according to the UCSB housing Web site.

Will the future bring change? Since the economy picked up after
the recession of the early 90s ended, the demand for housing and
rental rates have gone up greatly, while vacancy rates have
plummeted. But is there an economic slowdown on the horizon? If
there is, Southern California real estate is in good shape to
withstand economic slowdown, but the era of soaring rents and
dropping vacancy rates is over, according to a recent article in
the Los Angeles Times. In a strange way, an economic slowdown could
benefit UCLA apartment-hunters. Higher vacancy rates could mean
lower rent for students. But Westwood landlords might be nearly
immune to an economic slowdown. Montana said, in case of an
economic slowdown, “Westwood has a high student population
base to support itself.” DuBrowa agreed, saying that Westwood
has higher rents than surrounding areas. “The dynamics of
that has to do with the school (UCLA) being the focal point of the
area,” he added. For Westwood, there may not be a slowdown in
rising rents in the foreseeable future. “We are building more
on-campus housing,” Kemper said, “and yet the number of
students wanting that housing is also increasing.”
“That might not be enough to relieve the demand on the
Westwood market,” she said. Tidal Wave II is expected to
bring in 60,000 new undergraduate students to the UC system over
the next ten years. Today’s problems with housing can only be
exacerbated. “UCLA has an edict to increase student
population in the next few years, so here we go again,”
Kemper said. Montana agreed the future might bring more high rents.
“If you’re a landlord you don’t have to worry too
much,” he said.

RENT ON THE RISE Westwood apartment
prices have increased over the past decade. Prices for apartments
near UC Berkeley are higher, while those around UC Santa Barbara
are lower as compared to Westwood. SOURCE: UCLA Community
Housing Office, UCSB Community Housing web site, Contra Costa Times
Original by JACOB LIAO/Daily Bruin Web adaptation by MONICA
KWONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff