DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Luc Rougee arrived from Arizona yesterday to attend the University of Hawaii as a graduate student in zoology. His lab mates are letting him stay with them, on an extra bed in the living room, until he finds a place to stay in Honolulu's high-priced rental market.

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Students begin race
for housing

The dorm shortage is not as bad
this year, but off-campus rents
have shot up

For now a mattress in the living room of a friend will do.

But Luc Rougee, a graduate student in zoology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is looking for his own place at a reasonable price.

Room for rent? Landlords who have homes, apartments or rooms available to rent to students or faculty can post free listings at the off-campus housing referral Web site. Students can also post roommate-wanted listings and can scan the Web site for available off-campus housing. The Web site is available for students and faculty at all 10 University of Hawaii campuses. The address is www.housing.hawaii.edu/och. The UH Off-Campus Housing Referral Program's phone number is 956-7356.

Rougee, who just arrived this week from Arizona, is joining a big crowd. These next few weeks are the peak period for students looking for a place to live before school starts Aug. 22.

The student housing crunch is not as bad this summer as last year. The waiting list at the UH dorms is less than half as long as this time last summer, when about 1,300 students had not been assigned a place to live, said Janice Camara, interim housing director.

Chad Taylor, a sophomore from Kauai, had no problems getting into the Hale Noelani apartments this fall.

Because of last year's experience, "my parents were really stressing that I apply early," he said. "They need more dorms and more parking, too," he added.

But while the dorm waiting list is not as severe, it looks like more students need help finding off-campus housing, said Terry Howell Jr., coordinator of the Off-Campus Housing Referral Program at UH-Manoa.

"While we do have more listings this summer as compared to last summer, the demand far outweighs the supply," Howell said. "The majority of calls we receive each day are from students or parents trying to find a place to rent."

Students are also learning that prices have gone up significantly from last year.

"It's hard to find things that are under $1,000," Rougee said.

Last year on the housing referral Web site, the average rent for students looking for roommates was about $570 a month, Howell said. This year, people are asking about $650 a month to share an apartment.

Howell estimates that the average current listing is $1,460 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, compared with about $1,000 a month last year, and $1,750 for a two-bedroom apartment, up from $1,400 last year.

Sheila Kawakami, who works for Property Managers Ltd., said the supply of rentals is good. "But prices are high, and if you have a lower price, then there's so much competition to get it," she said.

One student even brought her mother to the apartment interview to guarantee the rent for a unit.

Kawakami said she received 50 calls, about half from students, interested in a unit in St. Louis Heights renting for $850 a month.

About 20 people were waiting in line to see an apartment in Waikiki advertised at $1,050 a month, she said.

Some students are getting creative.

"I have a three-bedroom penthouse renting for $4,200. I've had calls. They want to put four students in," Kawakami said.

Housing on campus is much cheaper, starting at $2,817 for a double-occupancy room in the dorms and $3,759 for UH apartments for the nine-month academic year.

Priority for those units goes to freshmen and students from off island, or those farthest from Manoa. Camara said the waiting list should clear up somewhat after a payment deadline Thursday, when students who have housing but fail to pay for it are cleared off the list.

While dorm prices remain low, the cost might go up next year when the current fee schedule ends. The housing office is looking at raising fees for fall 2006 to pay for cost increases and much-needed repairs to the dorms.