Student organizers intending to live in the new apartment complex, The One Ann Arbor, delivered an open letter to the University of Michigan Dean of Students on Friday afternoon. The group is seeking support from the university for the more than 600 displaced students who wanted to live at The One this school year.
The One is a newly constructed off-campus housing development on the Pontiac Trail in Ann Arbor, about 2 miles from the Central Campus. Most of the tenants are students who were informed on August 19th – five days before their expected move-in date – of construction delays that would move their move-in date to September 9th.
Ten days later, on August 29th, the tenants were again informed that further delays have postponed their move-in date, so that the UM student tenants still cannot live in the apartment complex a day before the first day of class.
John Harris, director of Trinitas Ventures, the parent company of The One, emailed The Michigan Daily on Wednesday that The One received nine temporary receipts on September 8 and 45 students are moving into the complex on September 9 let.
Harris did not immediately respond to the request for comment when asked about the tenant’s latest open letter to the UM student office or the ongoing concerns of past and current renters.
When discussing the experience, LSA senior Krystal Webb, a former tenant who canceled her lease yesterday, said she felt stressed by the constant uncertainty of her temporary housing situation. She also said she felt the whole ordeal had negatively affected her mental health.
“I literally lost so much sleep those nights because I didn’t know if they would take me to a hotel,” said Webb. “You didn’t tell us. I recently decided that I can’t do it anymore. It just felt like a game because I’m sure they know the move-in dates couldn’t happen on those days. But they still gave us false hopes. “
Organizers are demanding that The One University issue a statement regarding its treatment of UM students and that the University sever its advertising relationship with The One by removing ads for the complex on the Beyond the Diag residential building website.
Conrad Kosowsky, a fourth-year graduate student and one of the organizers of the letter, said he believed the university shouldn’t advertise apartments that don’t exist.
“I think it’s really bad at the university to offer a platform to an apartment complex when this complex treats students so incredibly badly.”
They also ask the university to provide the tenants with food deductions in the canteens. According to the letter, “a representative survey of tenants” showed that over 50% of those questioned had skipped meals and / or school-related events in order to save money.
“It appears that hundreds of students have not yet received their promised scholarships from The One and therefore cannot use that money to buy food,” the letter said.
Webb said that when she contacted the dean of studies to get meal cards for renters who lived in hotels, she was given unreasonable options and little support, especially for students who were given hotels in more distant cities.
“’One gives you $ 50 a day. You can use that, ‘”said Webb, the dean of studies. “But for some people who have been to Canton and Livonia, this is not a really viable option because they have to spend that $ 50 a day to get to campus.”
Additional inquiries included encouraging the faculty to create virtual learning opportunities for students commuting to campus or staying in hotels due to housing crowding, as well as providing alternative modes of transport for tenants. The One has provided a shuttle service to the campus; However, organizers say the shuttle timing is unreliable.
“The One has offered its current tenants an inconsistent and poorly timed shuttle service, with long, unplanned waits and some routes that take well over an hour to arrive on campus,” the letter said.
Given these and other difficulties, 70% of respondents said that “the emotional strain of the delay will affect their academic performance,” the open letter said.
“In these difficult times we need you to stand up for us,” the letter says. “University students were pressured (78% of respondents); insufficient information or too little time given (98% of respondents); and had days when they didn’t know where to stay (70% of respondents). “
Kosowsky said the university should provide transportation like blue buses or parking cards for the students commuting 20-30 miles from campus. Kosowsky said the university has so far been of no help with parking.
“One of the students who helped deliver the letter today tried to get a parking pass,” said Kosowsky of a commuter who was not given a parking pass and could not get a special permit from the park office. “So now he doesn’t have a good parking space for his car when he drives to campus, which he has to do because the shuttles don’t run often.”
The letter currently has 312 signatures, and organizers reported that around 250 tenants contacted each other on social media to provide mutual support.
The Daily Staff Reporters Christian Juliano and Justine Ra can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].
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