The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: HSU housing

  • Letter to the editor

    Letter to the editor

    New Student Housing Community in the Works for Lumberjacks!

    Dear Editor:

    I’m pleased to announce that The Village, a new housing choice, is in the works for students attending Humboldt State University. As you probably know, HSU currently has room on campus for only about 25 percent of the students enrolled, which has made it difficult for HSU students to find housing year after year.

    According to a report funded by HSU, the Arcata housing market is so constrained, some students sleep in their cars or camp in the woods while they look for housing. There is currently demand for roughly 800 new student housing beds in order to address students’ housing insecurity and to support their academic pursuits.

    After various inadequate attempts to increase housing options, the city is now on the verge of having the most viable new housing choice for students in many years.

    The Village isn’t just another apartment building, it is planned as a purpose-built student housing community only half a mile from campus that specifically meets students’ needs with academic amenities such as spacious study rooms, computer lab and presentation room for individual or group study and collaboration, a fitness center with on-demand fitness programs, outdoor community space and secure covered bicycle parking. The Village will also have 24-hour professional on-site management, as well as peer mentorship from resident assistants that will be responsive to students’ needs. This property will also include many sustainable features including solar power, a bicycle-share program and electric vehicle charging stations, and will be built to environmentally conscious Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards.

    The Village will help improve the reputation of the Arcata community by creating more healthy competition in the housing market and energizing the local economy that is largely fueled by HSU and its students, and will introduce more diversity into the housing mix to reflect the diversity of today’s students and their needs.

    Despite the many positive benefits The Village will bring to the community, there are those who are actively trying to prevent current and future Lumberjacks from making The Village their home while attending HSU.

    If you are in support of the positive housing choice The Village will offer to HSU students and the community of Arcata and want to find out more, please visit this website: https://www.thevillagearcata.com/. You can also contact the Arcata City Council and let them know you support more student housing in Arcata, especially purpose-built student housing communities like The Village.

    It’s all about choices. Your support of this project can help ensure The Village is able to offer HSU students an exciting, new place to call home, and one that HSU students deserve.

    Percival Vaz
    Chief Executive Officer
    AMCAL Equities, LLC

  • Housing and international program directors lose jobs

    Housing and international program directors lose jobs

    The reality of Humboldt State budget cuts sets in as three departments recently lost employees. The positions of Associate Director of Housing Facilities, Steve McKenzie, Director of Center for International Programs, Ge-Yao Liu, and Associate Vice President for College of Extended Education & Global Engagement, Alex Hwu, were brought to an end.

    When contacted to speak on this matter, Liu did not wish to make a comment on his dismissal or the budget reductions.

    “All I want to say is to wish the university the best, and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as the director of International Programs for a bit over one year,” Liu said.

    All other employees contacted at the International Center did not respond or did not wish to comment.

    Since the open budget forum held on Feb. 2, it hasn’t been a mystery to HSU students and faculty that the school is facing a major budget crisis. In the summary of the University Cabinet outline of Budget Reduction Decisions, an immediate plan is to “Reduce five administrator positions and eight vacant staff positions.”

    In a message sent to HSU students on Feb. 26, President Lisa Rossbacher wrote that HSU must reduce its budget spending by $9 million over the next two years.

    “I am writing today to reassure you that our very highest priority remains your educational experience,” Rossbacher wrote. “Even as we make reductions, we are protecting the core offerings of classes and support to help you progress toward completing your degree. Our budget decisions will lead to a ‘Students First’ budget, which I will share with the campus community by March 29.”

    It is not yet clear what the “Students First” budget will look like, but some students are worried about the way the budget cuts will affect them.

    “I came in from a break and people kept saying, ‘We’re gonna lose our jobs,” student assistant in Housing and Residence Life, Zach Pole, said.

    Though Pole says he is still in denial, he believes students losing their jobs is a possibility and thinks this will affect the department negatively.

    “The student assistants kind of do all the really basic, remedial and trivial stuff,” Pole said. “Without us, they’re gonna have to do this themselves when there’s more important things going on.”

    Pole said in a Housing and Residence Life meeting last week that Housing and Facilities Management are merging, and that McKenzie’s position was eliminated.

    Director of Housing and Residence Life, Stephen St. Onge, did not have time to give an interview, but wrote an email responding to student concerns.

    “We have not cut any student assistant positions for budget cuts,” St. Onge. “In fact, we added resident advisor positions last year to best support the building of community on campus.”

    This story has been changed from its original version on March 12 at 11:09 a.m.

  • Future housing developments for students in Arcata

    Future housing developments for students in Arcata

    As the busy students of Humboldt State University get back into the swing of things, some students are in the unfortunate situation of being homeless.

    While many think no actions have been taken, it is easy to notice the many construction projects that have popped up around town.

    The one closest to campus is located on Foster Avenue. These buildings are beginning to catch attention.

    According to Alyson Hunter, City of Arcata’s senior planner, this construction is part of a project known as the Sunset Terrace Apartments.

    “The city had known the developer’s plans for the site long before construction started,” Hunter said.

    Construction began in 2014 in several phases. The property developer, Kramer Investment Corp., posts pictures of the construction process on their website.

    It is going to be a 142-unit apartment complex consisting of solely one bedroom and one bathroom units.

    While Alex Hunt of Kramer Investment Corp. was unable to release more information, he said that the first phase was nearing completion.

    “We’ll have to coordinate with PG&E to finish the first phase,” Hunt said.

    At this point, rent prices are unknown, but residents of other properties managed by Kramer Investment Corp. say similar units go for around $700 per month.

    Recent HSU graduate Nathaniel Matteson had been homeless for three months last semester.

    “I was looking really hard and I could not find anything,” Matteson said. “It would have been really nice to have something like this as an option.”

    Future students of HSU may not have to worry about housing as much as students are today, as this project is not the only one in the area. On Feb. 13, a city council meeting will be held to discuss further steps on what is known as The Village Student Housing Project.

    According to City of Arcata’s website, it is proposed to house 800 beds specifically for students. It will be a multi-story complex at the end of I Street and St. Louis Road, which is across the freeway from campus.

    These projects could make housing a smaller problem than it is among the students at HSU. As for now, the eventual completion and opening of the Sunset Terrace Apartments will decide whether homeless students will have some relief of trying to find a place to live.