Reader comments
BYU students temporarily 'on street'

I am one of those homeless students, and I will say that BYU does have the ability to fix the situation, but the refuse to do so. The contract signed by most apartment complexes is actually provided by BYU Housing, and BYU has the ability to enforce strict regulation of the BYU Approved housing in the Provo area.

So BYU prefers to have it's students homeless for over a week, which is dangerous, and not good for students who have enough worries, and now to include being homeless.

Provo's Homeless population of students should be a major concern for the university, city and residents of the town.

Can the general public help? What if we have a room available?

How and when do people propose that the landlords clean, paint, and make repairs? Or would people prefer that none of that is done?

BYU students need to follow the Spirit. The Spirit will lead them to suitable housing arrangements.

"BYU spokesman Todd Hollingshead explained that BYU has no responsibility regarding the contracts students make with private entities."

What a crock. No responsibility, except to force those private entities to comply with the BYU Approved Housing program or not be able to rent to BYU singles. Ridiculous. This is why the system doesn't work: BYU forces wacky living rules on private companies, but then won't protect the students when they get pushed around by those companies who have already bent over backward to appease BYU into letting them do business. How is BYU's arrangement not illegal?

Here at the MTC, there are many empty rooms which could be used !

This is a HUGE problem. My daughter is at BYU. Students are "forced" to abide by the terms of the contracts. They cannot always find contracts or apartments which allow them/their belongings to stay during the break. The campus requires students to stay at their on-campus jobs during the break because it's a busy time during Education Week. My daughter is there - 1200 miles from home - with no car. What is a student to do? Something needs to be done. Come on Saints, have a heart!

Seems like an enterprising hotel could offer a "gap" deal to students. They officially are not in school during that time and are expected to stay wherever so there should be no problem with having to meet single student housing requirements.

The reason for the contract gap is simple; it allows the landlords to rent the rooms out to Education Week attendees for a much higher rate than students can pay.

What a bunch of morons. I went to and graduated from BYU and it is not a problem for those with common sense and a brain. There is plenty of hotel space. Have a clue...have a plan.

I will knock and put down BYU (and mock any and all Cougars) any day of the week, but leaving students homelss is an absolute travesty!!!!!

Do yourself a favor -- seek professional help.

Sincerely,

Cosmo

If the student read the contract they knew prior to the start of the spring and summer term that this was coming, so please don't ask me to cry for you. You had plenty of time to make other arrangements. That being said, I would have thought that a stop-gap measure could have be arranged by the landlords, that is just good business. And last, but not least, no one is "forced" to live by the housing standards, each and every one of you could choose to go some where else, although then you wouldn't be able to be quite so condescending of everyone else.

I attend the U of U and have never had problem with homelessness- the freedom of choice allows me to live anywhere that I approve of.

Wait, hold on, landlords in Provo "clean" and "maintain" the student apartments? Are you sure?

Blame can be shared among all parties. BYU can loosen up their excessive restrictions and worry more about homeless students than making more bucks on Education Week. Distance and standard restrictions don't guarantee or stop problem situations from happening - too much micromanagement. Property owners can work with local cleaning companies to be efficient in their cleaning or look into regular smaller cleanings on rotation. They can specify specific days per unit since I doubt all units are being cleaned every one of those 7 days. Students can plan ahead of time and be less messy so there is less to clean each year.

maybe the should all put of tents on the quadrangle
out side of the presidents office. then the spirit will be stronger and help them solve the problem.
they can "follow the spirit" to there tents at night.

Ed Week has filled all the hotel rooms within 20 miles of campus

Our kid had to sign a year-round contract, even though he was coming home for the summer! He had to pay rent for 4 months for an unused apartment he couldn't re-sale to anyone. So a lot of his summer job profit was going to his Provo landlord!!!

BYU itself made me move out of the dorms between summer term and fall semester so that they could house people for Education Week even though I was coming right back to the same room. Fortunately, I was able to store my stuff at my sister's apartment and then I was able to go home for the break. It seems to me that students should take priority over people attending Education Week.