"Life off the Hill": Housing

In about three months, most of you will be living in New Haven. A lucky few of you will live in the Div School Apartments (which are just about the easiest places arrange housing when you’re not living in New Haven). If you’re in this category, you’re probably thinking: Why are we talking about housing in “Life off the Hill?” Well, unfortunately, this entire post doesn’t apply to you, since housing is part of your life on the hill (I’m sorry; we’re not trying to be exclusive. There will be plenty of information on your lovely apartment in Curtis or Fisher or Bellamy later. Plus, when you decide to move off the hill, maybe you’ll remember some of this.) The rest of you are about to begin (or have already begun) searching for new places to live. This post is for you.

First off, remember to breathe. I know it seems like you needed to sign a lease yesterday; I certainly felt that way when I was in your place. If it makes you feel better, I didn’t sign a lease until mid-June, and I know plenty of people who didn’t manage to find housing until later. The good news is that you will find a place to live. YDS is a very friendly place, and Melissa is amazing; she’s going to keep giving you information about wonderful places to live throughout the summer.

Now, on to the nitty-gritty info about finding places to live in New Haven.

1. Let me plug Melissa Pucci again. She is amazing. She’s going to be feeding you housing info all summer. Current students let Melissa know if they need new roommates, and students who are moving on to other things give Melissa info about the places they’re moving out of. New Haven landlords tend to love Div Students (we make good tenants, I’m told), so they’ll also send ads to Melissa. I’ve also heard rumors that she will go take pictures of apartments for you if you can’t make it to New Haven.
2. Yale owns lots of properties around New Haven that graduate and professional students (that’s you) can live in. You might want to start by checking the Grad Student Housing Office which can set you up with dorm-style housing at either the Hall of Graduate Studies, located in the middle of Yale’s main campus (and which has an excellent dining hall), or 276 Prospect Street, which is located a short distance from the Div School. I’ve got several friends who, at one point or another, lived in these dorms and loved them.
3. For those of you who don’t want to live in a dorm (I was one of you), Yale has still more options for you. Yale also has several apartment-style options for graduate and professional students, many of which are located close to the Div School. A note of caution: These properties fill up amazingly fast. I applied in late March and got waitlisted. I’m not saying that you can’t get into one of these, but you should definitely have other options, even if this is your first choice.
4. Yale also runs The Yale Off-Campus Properties Database, which is more or less a Yale-specific Craigslist. They also provide this website, which has some good information about renting in New Haven.
5. Finally, there’s always Craigslist. Seriously. I, for one, always thought that Craigslist was kinda sketchy (which it is in some areas), but it’s one of the best ways to find a rental property in New Haven. New Haven lacks an apartment-finding service with good listings (the closest you’re going to come is Seabury Rentals). While you’re on Craigslist, I’d recommend looking for apartments in East Rock or Mansfield, since those will be closest to the Div School.

I’m sure a lot of you are wondering about price or are trying to come up with a budget to determine how much you want to take out in loans. I’m currently renting a five-bedroom house for $2600/month. I’ve got four roommates, so that works out to $520/person. That’s on the low end of average for New Haven; you’ll probably end up paying somewhere between $500-$750/month before utilities. We split our utilities (which included cable and internet) five ways; the most I paid was $135 one month during the winter. Heating will be your biggest expense. That’s a fact of life.

Some of you can’t afford to make a trip up to New Haven this summer. I couldn’t. My advice is to begin networking now. I found a roommate through the Facebook group, and I then got in contact with some current students whom I met when I came up for admitted students day. Originally, they were going to look at apartments for me, but we ended up becoming roommates. Finding current students who need more roommates is probably the best bet. It worked out great for me; I ended up with a great house and didn’t have to deal with the stress of apartment hunting.

Finally, remember to breathe. I know that’s where I started this post, but it’s important to keep reminding yourself that. Trying to find a place to live in New Haven while you’re halfway across the country can be scary and overwhelming at times, but you can do it. It’s all going to be okay. Jesus may have claimed that the Son of Man had no place to lay his head, but divinity students fall into the same category as birds and foxes. (Don't worry; that will be funny and/or reassuring in about a semester).