At least 12 students are being displaced from Westwood Chateau because of structural damage affecting their units.
Students living in two four-person units on the first and second floors of Westwood Chateau – one of UCLA’s 13 undergraduate university apartments – must permanently move out because of significant damage to their ceilings and floors, said Richard Bardales, residence hall manager for housing operations and safety, in a Nov. 3 email to impacted residents. Collin Spannaus, a third-year aerospace engineering student who lives in a separate Westwood Chateau unit on the first floor, said the university also told him last week that his apartment was impacted by structural damage.
Bardales’ email did not specify when the impacted residents must leave their units. Spannaus, who plans to move out by the weekend of Nov. 22, said he is not aware of a specific date the university wants him to vacate.
Anika Maragathavel, a third-year psychobiology student who lives in an affected unit and plans to move out by this weekend, said UCLA Facilities Management told her water damage had created a risk of their ceiling collapsing in the future. The issue began when their kitchen sink flooded in September, and subsequent renovations revealed the structural damage, she added.
UCLA Media Relations did not immediately respond in time to a request for comment on the structural damage affecting some Westwood Chateau units and whether other parts of the building have been impacted.
“It’s our first apartment, and so we didn’t think that so many things would go wrong from the get-go,” Maragathavel said. “For it to go so wrong so quickly was really terrible.”
Spannaus said it is inconvenient to move out because he is balancing writing an essay and studying for two midterm exams. He and his roommates did not know about potential alternative housing options until they reached out to UCLA Housing, leaving them with additional stress and frustration, he added.
“None of us want to deal with this mid-quarter,” Spannaus said.
Maragathavel said she and her roommates were unable to use their kitchen sink and dishwasher for a month after the sink flooded.
Because of the move, Maragathavel said she has less time to study for her classes. She added that her new unit at Palo Verde, another university apartment, is 10 minutes farther from campus by foot than Westwood Chateau.
Living without a kitchen felt emotionally draining, Maragathavel said, especially because she had to rely on frozen food and food delivery services. Being unable to cook for herself increased her food expenses and took away from her savings for medical school, she added.
Maragathavel said she believes UCLA downplayed the extent of the damage and urged the university to inspect the whole building. She added that she wishes UCLA were more transparent and took more initiative to better maintain Westwood Chateau.
“It feels like a safety risk for everyone living there,” Maragathavel said.
