For years, students at San Diego State University have leased at 5025 Collwood Boulevard (popularly referred to as “Fifty Twenty-Five”) to stay in affordable housing close to campus. However, as lease renewal season comes to a head, some students are left scrambling in a volatile San Diego housing market.
A third-year music major, Elyahn Arroyo has two jobs within SDSU’s music department. His first job pays $19 per hour, and his second pays $15.50, 80 cents below San Diego minimum wage. He lives at Fifty Twenty-Five with five other roommates in one of Fifty Twenty-Five’s four-bedroom, four-bathroom apartments.
“I don’t want to be in that apartment. I live on the bottom floor. We have no sunlight because there’s two alleys around us, people blasting music; there’s terrible internet connection,” Arroyo said. “I can’t even call my family.”
Arroyo pays around $750 per month – the cheapest option in his price range, whereas his roommates pay upwards of $900. Another third year, Claire Holt, pays around $685 per month with some financial support from her parents. Like Arroyo, Holt works an on-campus job at SDSU’s concession stand. She gets paid $16.75 per hour plus tips.
Holt has lived at Fifty Twenty-Five for two years, going on her third. She’s re-signing her lease with her suitemates, who’ve lived at Fifty Twenty-Five for only one year, going on their second. Because of her continued lease at Fifty Twenty-Five, Holt pays significantly less than her other five suitemates. However, price hikes are common: she’ll be paying approximately $735 per month soon.
“I would love to move into a house this year, but 5025 has been the cheapest option for me,” Holt said. “Money is the limiting factor.”
A fourth year, Shiloh Catterson and her partner, Josh Lewis, live in Fifty Twenty-Five’s two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments with their dog, Rosa. Catterson pays for the apartment with student loans and a desk job for SDSU’s residential halls; Lewis receives financial support from the Office of Veterans Affairs (VA).
"I feel like I’m only renting to sleep. I want a place to come home to." -Elyahn Arroyo
“It’s really difficult trying to make enough to keep paying back loans on time and paying rent and groceries. All [of] the bills add up really quick,” Catterson said.
Catterson pays $500 every month to her mother to pay off student loan debt.
“The end of the month comes up really fast,” Lewis said.
Lewis receives $180 per month from VA for his disability – enough for “two tanks of gas and a high-five.”
Like Holt, Catterson and Lewis are planning to re-sign their lease. As Lewis’ VA benefits wean off, he hopes to start as either an EMT at AMR for $16.75 per hour or an ER tech at around $18 per hour. They hope that re-signing will help to offset the cost of buying furniture and rent hikes.
“I don’t care about a pool. I don’t care about the gym,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo is searching for a house near the area with five other housemates for his budget of $1,160 per month. Although he might have to spend his savings, the conditions of living at Fifty Twenty-Five are too unbearable to contend with.
“I want a kitchen I actually want to cook in and stay in. I want a home I want to live in. Living at Fifty Twenty-Five apartments for college – they don’t provide that space, and right now, I feel like I’m only renting to sleep. I want a place to come home to,” Arroyo said.
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