Picture this, it’s July 21, moving trucks are everywhere and chaos is in the air. MSU students are forced out of their apartment, and face the possibility of being homeless for a month before the fall school semester begins.
DTN Management, among other local leasing agencies around MSU’s campus are ending their leases July 21, and for some people a little too soon.
Psychology senior Audra Artzberger, amongst other students, scrambled to find a new living situation for the remainder of the summer to avoid a harsh reality of homelessness.
“I work at the dorm desk and can’t just leave work for over a month until my next lease starts August 25,” Artzberger said. “It was more difficult finding a place to sublease than I thought. Either places were too expensive, not furnished or starting or ended earlier than I needed.”
According to Chris Barnas, a DTN leasing agent, it’s not meant to be an inconvenience, that’s just the way the leases run.
“Most leases go for 12 months that start on August 1,” Baranas said. “When the lease ends on July 21, it leaves a 10-day gap to flip the apartment and move out all of things that renters leave behind. Twenty to 30 temporary workers completely clean the apartments to get them ready for the new tenants to move in.”
Lansing resident Morgan Bates was hired as one of the temps to help the process run smoothly. Bates will be part of a team tasked with cleaning out apartments before the next batch of students move in.
“We have to go in and vacuum everything, clean all of the counters, defrost freezers and make sure there are no holes in the wall of the apartments,” Bates said. “If the places are furnished, we have to take all the furniture out, clean it and then put it back in.”
Some students who are in need of immediate shelter frantically reach out to media outlets such as allMSU.com, an online community website designed exclusively for MSU students.
Economics senior Aman Singhal is currently under Community Resource Management Co. with a lease that is scheduled to end Friday. Monday evening, he turned to allMSU.com in hopes to find a subleaser for the remainder of the summer.
“AllMSU was very easy to manage, and I found a new place at Campus Village Apartments within two days,” Singhal said. “It’s just the moving that’s a problem.”
For Artzberger, the rest of her summer will consist of jumping from place to place, transferring her belongings with her everytime.
“I ended up subleasing from my friend in a house but her lease ends on the 10th so I’m out of luck again for another 15 days after that,” Artzberger said. “It’s extremely frustrating and annoying to keep having to tote my stuff around East Lansing. Ain’t nobody got time for that.”
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