Housing Bureau Secures Lodgings For 1100 Vets, Has Huge Backlog

More than eleven hundred student veterans of World War II together with their wives and children have secured living quarters through the aid of the University's Housing Bureau since its founding early this year, Donald D. Hathaway, manager of the Bureau said today.

This still leaves an immense backlog, however, for since January 7, 1,718 applicants have filled out formal requests for room space and another 627 have filed applications for future housing for the coming summer and fall terms. This staggering total means that despite its impressive record the Housing Bureau still has more veterans waiting than it has settled in the last five months. New applications are pouring in daily, Hathaway declared.

Most Living in Small Rooms

Of the placements, 434 have been put in either furnished or unfurnished apartments and small homes, while 740 have found temporary living quarters in furnished rooms, some as far as 20 and 25 miles from the Square.

The Bureau started out with only two vacancies, Hathaway said, but since that time it has rooted out 484 different listings. Not all of these have been of very high quality but only nine were declared to be unsuitable for occupancy. Twenty-two of the vacancies, however, were already rented by the time the students arrived, while six other landlords changed their minds after previous offers.

Not only dedicated to finding apartments, the Housing Bureau also acts as a mother confessor for troubled student veterans by advising them drawing up leases, rental ceilings, occupancy rights, and often hands out tips on where to buy furniture once they have moved in.