A weathered, yellow building stands tucked between two high-rises on 24th Street. It’s not an eye-catching sight, especially amongst the continuous development taking place in the neighborhood. However, with rents ranging from $700-$2000 per room in West Campus, this building is one of the last affordable housing options left for University of Texas at Austin students.
It took 20 tours and three real estate agents over the course of a couple of months for Kayla Angel to find an apartment that fell within her price range. In West Campus, where rent averages in the thousands, Angel was able to find a place for $425 per month—but it came at a cost. The building has been through a succession of management companies, leaving Angel in the dark about who’s responsible for her home.
“I don’t know who has our deposit money,” she told the Texas Observer. “And last year, we had a rat in our apartment [and] there was a big pipe that burst. It smelled terrible for weeks, and we received no notification of when this was going to get fixed [or] what was going on.”
