SGB to connect students, housing

Flooding in the Litchfield Towers has left some students with hundreds of dollars worth… Flooding in the Litchfield Towers has left some students with hundreds of dollars worth of ruined possessions, and many times these students do not know what they can do about their problems.

Student Government Board member Andrea DeChellis said, “I know some people have had really hellish experiences in college housing.”

So to help solve these situations, SGB and its community relations committee is now trying to improve the lines of communications between students and the officials who can actually do something to solve their problems.

According to DeChellis, the committee is working to join Residential Life and the Housing Resource Center, who deal with on-campus and off-campus housing respectively, and community organizations including the Oakland business task force with SGB. By creating this connection, SGB would be filling “a big void,” she said.

Community Relations Chair Matt Carmody said there would be individuals involved with both SGB and the different departments so that issues brought to the attention of SGB could be addressed with the housing and community departments.

He added that once a semester the committee would hold an open forum so students could present their concerns and have questions about housing answered, like what to look for in a lease, for example.

DeChellis said this would provide students with a place to voice their concerns about the direction that the Oakland community is headed and to talk to other students, who may have gone through their own housing troubles.

Carmody said that it would be similar to a tenants’ union and that the Pitt offices have been receptive of the project.

“It will give students a stronger voice,” he said.

According to DeChellis, students often do not know how to file complaints.

But the new system would allow students going through housing problems to talk to peers who have gone through similar problems. She added that these peers could push the students going through problems now in the right direction as to who to talk to or what actions they can and should take to remedy their problems.

Including the community organizations is important, since they influence the tenant occupancy areas, DeChellis said. She added that students should have influence about the businesses that move in and out of Oakland

At the SGB meeting last Wednesday, she said, “Usually there’s more potential with students coming together.”

Currently, there is not a lot of communication between these organizations, DeChellis added.

Carmody said individuals involved would be meeting soon to develop the project and to amend the committee’s bylaws so when the next school year begins individuals would just need to be appointed to the positions.

Bob Hopkins of the Housing Resource Center said he had not heard the specific details to the project so he could not comment on the project.

A representative from RSA was not available for comment.