UT Austin students rally for affordable housing
Transit Forward and UT Austin students held a rally on campus in support of affordable housing and to educate students on the future of transportation in the city.
AUSTIN, Texas – Transit Forward and UT Austin students held a rally on campus in support of affordable housing and to educate students on the future of transportation in the city.
“Hooked on Transit”, “Horns Housing”, and “There is no Planet B” are just a few of the slogans on the signs held by UT Austin students during the student rally for transit as they made their voices heard Thursday afternoon.
“We are mostly trying to educate the student population about this and also get them more engaged with the issue. I think this is something that is usually not thought about too much,” says UT Austin advocacy policy director for student government Arshia Papari.
Project Connect, the city of Austin’s plans for a multi-billion-dollar light rail system spanning nearly 10 miles long, was a major focus for the coalition of students.
“There is a lot of people that live in North Campus High Park that have to hike and trek to get over here and also have to pay for parking, which is crazy here, and with the light rail, especially students that live in North Austin, they would be able to get here in a quick amount of time,” says UT Austin Civic Engagement Policy Director Savannah Rakowitz.
While there have been lawsuits and push back on the project, the demonstrators argue that it is beneficial for students and the environment.
“When it comes to carbon emissions, it is extremely environmentally friendly and with lots of traffic in cars, we are dealing with car pollution,” says Rakowitz.
Housing affordability was another key topic during the rally.
“The big issue that we are seeing is that with rising costs for students who don’t really have steady income, that is really difficult when trying to determine where they are going to live and, so unfortunately, West Campus is notorious for having many companies take advantage of students with insane rent,” says Rakowitz.
The group also used the rally as an opportunity to encourage students to negotiate rates with their landlords when looking for living arrangements.
