WAITLIST CONTRIBUTES TO RISE IN OFFCAMPUS HOUSING DEMAND WAITLIST CONTRIBUTES TO RISE IN OFFCAMPUS HOUSING DEMAND

Students raise concerns about City of Williamsburg rental process, affordable housing

In an Oct. 12, 2022 email to students, the College of William and Mary Residence Life o ce announced that, given the closure of the Yates and Monroe residence halls, it anticipated a housing waitlist of approximately 400-500 students for the 2023-24 academic year. In Feb. 2023, the College noti ed 548 upperclassmen of their waitlist status. According to Director of Housing and Residence Life Harriet Kandell, the number of waitlisted students is currently 339.

Given the size of the waitlist for 2023-24 on-campus housing, many of the upperclassmen in this uncertain hiatus have begun looking for o -campus housing options. e increased demand for o -campus rentals has shed light on the City of Williamsburg’s position in the national housing shortage crisis.

Anika Ahammad ’25, an American Studies major, the incoming advocacy chair of William and Mary First-Generation, LowIncome Students and a Pell Grant student, shared her experience as one of the 339 students still on the housing waitlist.

“It’s been really stressful, honestly,”

Ahammad said. “I am a rstgeneration, low-income student. And when I heard the news that I’m on the waitlist, no guarantee for housing next year, it got my parents pretty upset. It’s a lot of undue stress on us, like, how will I nd o -campus housing? What resources are there? And I did email ResLife and went in person a few times to see if there was anything I could do. But the response

MOLLY PARKS // FLAT HAT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

I got wasn’t the best. It just felt like that they didn’t really have a lot of empathy for my situation.”

In an email to e Flat Hat, Kandell said that students currently on the waitlist still have the potential to receive the opportunity for on-campus housing. is past year, ResLife was able to house all opportunity to be able to apply with her current roommate.

“I wanted to stay close to campus, I don’t have the means to a ord a car,” Ahammad said. “I also wanted to stay with my roommate who I feel like is understanding of my religious practices. I’m Muslim, I don’t know how things would