• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor in Chief  Timothy Kudo

Managing Editor

 Michael Falcone

Viewpoint Editor

 Cuauhtemoc Ortega

Staff Representatives

 Maegan Carberry

 Edward Chiao

 Kelly Rayburn

Editorial Board Assistants

 Maegan Carberry

 Edward Chiao

  Unsigned editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily Bruin Editorial Board. All other columns, letters and artwork represent the opinions of their authors.   All submitted material must bear the author's name, address, telephone number, registration number, or affiliation with UCLA. Names will not be withheld except in extreme cases.   The Bruin complies with the Communication Board's policy prohibiting the publication of articles that perpetuate derogatory cultural or ethnic stereotypes.   When multiple authors submit material, some names may be kept on file rather than published with the material. The Bruin reserves the right to edit submitted material and to determine its placement in the paper. All submissions become the property of The Bruin. The Communications Board has a media grievance procedure for resolving complaints against any of its publications. For a copy of the complete procedure, contact the Publications office at 118 Kerckhoff Hall. Daily Bruin 118 Kerckhoff Hall 308 Westwood Plaza Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310) 825-9898

If the University of California plans to endorse a new California bill to give $15 million to the UC and the California State University system to build affordable housing, it should take into account that this money would be better spent subsidizing student rent instead of building more housing.

While it would be ideal to provide funding to cover both student housing and future housing development projects, the former must take precedence. Building more student housing is a legitimate long-term solution, but it is not the best one. Students need relief now, and the $15 million would be better spent to subsidize the cost of housing for students.

Students won’t feel the effects of more student housing for years, and in some cases, building more housing is not a viable option. At UC Berkeley and UCLA, real estate is at a premium, and these campuses would stand to benefit the most from reduced housing costs in the surrounding communities. At UCLA, the average cost of an on-campus double is $7,782 per year, about 45 percent higher than other top public universities around the country. And as of last year, Westwood apartments have seen rent for single-bedroom apartments go up by an average of 13.3 percent and doubles by 6.6 percent for each of the three previous years.

Students who want to live near campus are forced to pay the increasing rent prices, and those who can’t are slowly being driven out of Westwood, and in some cases, out of the UC system completely. If the UC wants to keep these students, UC President Richard Atkinson and the Board of Regents should get the state to begin subsidizing housing.