Chapter House occupancy
 

Would anyone be willing to share the ins and outs of how they fill their chapter house each year? I'm an adviser to a chapter that always makes quota plus but we have some issues with filling the house. I'd like to know how others deal with the problem.

Don't suggest the national org. They are clueless and less than helpful. If we followed their suggestions, we'd be in an even bigger hole.

Here are some of the questions I'd like to see addressed:

Do you have an occupancy plan? Do you enforce it with women who have signed and paid a lease elsewhere? (Knowing that they usually choose to resign rather than deal with the problem of subletting and move in.)

Do you require exec to live in?

How do you fill spaces for those who want a semester's housing only because they are student teaching second semester?

Do you charge a move-out fee?

I'd love to hear any and all suggestions. Thank you all for your time. Your help in this and other issues is much appreciated.

As far as the student teaching issue, we almost always had women who had pledged in the fall (deferred rush, so sophomores and up) who wanted to move in in the spring. A lot of that depends on whether wherever they were living previously had a semesterly or yearly lease though.

Are the chapter houses considered on-campus? Does the campus require x semesters of living on campus? Do the majority of housing options (on and off campus) have semester or year leases?

In my chapter exec had to live in, but we wanted to. Then occupancy was determined by a point system, people with the highest points having first opportunity to live in. Room choices were by initiation date. Seniors had first choice to opt out of living in, but the house had to be full before people could opt out. I vaguely remember a few student teachers interning out of town, and I think someone was allowed to move into that space. The student teachers graduated at the end of the semester they interned, so they were not displaced.

What is your housing policy?

I'm a house corp. board president. Per our national policy, all members are required to live in unless they are excused...student teaching elsewhere, study abroad, living with parents are the on the short list of approved excuses from the obligation. The chapter must pay for any empty beds.

The chapter needs to vote on a policy to ensure the house is filled, which our chapter did. So far the house has always been filled voluntarily...barely. The system is there just in case (we have 30 beds and over 125 members). There are only a couple positions that must live in...president and house manager. My daughter's Pi Phi chapter has the same officer live-in requirements. It's tricky when elections aren't held until after members have been signing leases...the current president found a sub-letter for her apartment, after she was elected.

You need some type of chapter-approved policy to make sure there is some formal means of ensuring a full house every year, and to hold members accountable for supporting the facility. Do your housing contracts early (like, now!), and remind people NOT to sign a lease elsewhere unless they know for sure that they aren't living in. I'm noticing that landlords are putting on the lease signing pressure earlier and earlier,and students are buying into that frenzy.

We don't have a "live-in" policy. It's voluntary for my campus, but we have no problem filling our house. That being said, if you do have a live-in policy, that would change things.

But, I doubt you would be able to force girls to live in the house if they already have a signed lease at an apartment. Had that gun been put to my head, I would've had to resign my membership as well because there was no way I had the money to break the lease. Most apartments charge A LOT to break a lease. Again, if you had a clear live in requirement and a girl decided to ignore it, different story.

Our whole exec didn't live in. Only the president, financial vp and new member orientation chair were required to live in, as well as the house manager, but that's not technically an exec position.

Why would you charge a move out fee? That's ridiculous. If you mean a fee for signing a contract saying they'll live in the house and then breaking it, that's different.

We tell them when they are new members that the exec officers must live in and sophomore must live in until the house is full. Upperclassmen who return for a second year got first pick of rooms.
They can be excused if they prove they bought a house or condo prior to recruitment or if they have an internship out of town.
If they still go and sign a lease anyway then they will be fined - it is a hefty fine - one year's rent.
If they quit rather than move in - they probably were not adding much to the chapter. You may need to take a serious look at maintenance and improvements tonthe house. Is there something you can do to make it less expensive than a dorm or more convenient?

Do you have an occupancy plan? Do you enforce it with women who have signed and paid a lease elsewhere? (Knowing that they usually choose to resign rather than deal with the problem of subletting and move in.)

Yes, it's written in the Bylaws and House Rules and it varies from chapter to chapter. Some chapters have a minimum number of years live-in requirements. Other chapters have it written that you are required to live-in every year unless you live locally with your parents or are an RA in the dorms. Some chapters get members to commit to house leases as early as October for the following year so they don't sign apartment leases. Once the house is full, there is an order in which the girls are able to live out, again specifically stated in the bylaws and house rules

Do you require exec to live in?
Yes and no. It depends on the number of beds in the house on which exec members are required to live-in. Small houses (defined specifically by our HQ) are required to only have 3 specific officers live in. Houses with more beds (again, defined) are required to have the President and all VPs live in but not all officers

How do you fill spaces for those who want a semester's housing only because they are student teaching second semester? Girls that are student teaching locally typically live in the house. They still need to live somewhere. We have had members who know they will be studying abroad, sign one-semester leases and split the year with another member. That is a chapter by chapter decision

Do you charge a move-out fee?If you mean, "break their lease", that is a legal action not a move-out fee. If you mean you charge them when their lease is up, the answer is no.

I'm House Corporation Board President of a chapter. We sleep 45 and our chapter size is right at 290. Council must live in and then sophomores. If the House isn't full the chapter has to make up the difference from their budget. We operate much the same way as Sciencewoman's chapter. We have a similar policy in effect. Contracts go out this week and are due before winter break. Who lives in is based on GPA.

Where we have had issues is we have to release girls on the wait list and then we have had issues with girls who were selected are contracted to live in transferring, medical/family issues etc. then we find ourselves scrambling to fill the empty bed late May or June. We do "buy out deposits" if we find someone willing to move in at a late date. We deduct that amount from her 1st semester rent. We do not offer one semester contracts. (we stopped that headache).

If the house is not full, members are not rewarded by doubles becoming singles, triples becoming doubles, etc. Empty rooms are locked and unavailable.

Have you asked why they don't want to live in? If the house is icky, can it be updated to accommodate trends? Is it the cost? Are the girls just not that into living there? Is it badly located? First I'd find out the problem, second I'd try to fix the problem, and third I'd make sure all new members understand there is a commitment to the physical structure. If having a house on campus isn't optional, then the girls have to live in it. Period. If every girl can't commit to the house itself, then either the house has to go or the girls have to go. But before playing hard ball with the membership I'd take a good hard look at the problem and seek resolution.

I agree with asking why women don't want to live in. If you offer meal service, is the food good? Is it healthy? Are there women with dietary needs such as celiac or diabetes that would have a harder time living in?

Does the house have a workout area? Does it have laundry facilities? All of those things would be of interest to college women.

Does it have fast w-fi? Does it have cable in every room? These are things that apartment complexes are offering to get tenants. You have to make your chapter house competitive with the off campus housing, if you want women to live in.

Not to derail the question, but back when the pledges moving in immediately was a thing, who had to live in the house? Was it by pledge class, officers, what? I just wondered if some of these houses (or if even the concept of houses in general) were built with that in mind.

As to why they don't want to live in, I'd also wonder how much of that attitude is coming from fwap fwap parents who don't want Snowflake in communal housing.

ETA: is it being stressed during pledgeship and (if all chapters have more or less the same setup) recruitment that living in the house is as much an obligation as paying dues or attending events, and if you don't want to or can't fulfill it, you shouldn't be a member? I'm just wondering if this is yet another hard truth that's gotten swept under the rug with today's "warm and fuzzy" new member periods.

Not that many move New Members in immediately. The rule of thumb these days for house size is 25% of chapter size. General rule of thumb for living in is that you do it if there is space for you and your lottery number comes up (based on the individual chapter's standing rules that set the priorities for moving in). Certain officers such as exec usually are required to live in. Some chapters add certain other officers. And all groups have the goal of their housing being ""competitive" on that campus....and that can vary from campus to campus. Being competitive with the KKG house at Arkansas or the ChiO house at Mizzou can be quite the task!

The most recent Data suggests that parents want their kids in dorms and communal housing and that is seen as safer. Demand for dorm space is up with freshmen - Even if it is more expensive

Yes but "dorms" nowadays often are suite-style and there's no 30 some students sharing bathrooms or tv rooms, and the bedroom itself is a single much more frequently than it used to be. They can close the door and avoid socializing terribly easily. I'm guessing that is not the case even in the most well-appointed sorority house.

And a lot of schools are requiring freshman to live on campus

When on corp board I found the biggest issues were that members had never shared a room before and weren't willing to start. Members wanted pets. Members would not adapt to limited closet space and sharing a bathroom. The pets thing was a HUGE issue.

I will admit that going away to a college as an only child was eye opening. I had never shared a bedroom or a bathroom with anyone, ever. The closet space was the deal breaker in all honesty. I only lasted three semesters living in the house because I didn't have enough storage space for my clothes, shoes or jewelry. This would be the biggest improvement most older chapter houses could make, larger closets and single or double sleep in rooms with a bathroom in between the rooms.

We have a beautiful house that is only a year old. The rooms are huge, we have free laundry, fast WIFI, lots of common area space...granite counters, ceramic tile and wood floors, etc., etc. The biggest issues we have are: older members want the freedom apartments provide and there are many new apartment complexes available.

The alcohol and boys rules kill it for a lot of girls too. Especially for older girls, girls with boyfriends.

Ohio State is starting a 2-year live on campus requirement with the freshmen this year. All sororities are getting approved to qualify for on-campus housing, which HOPEFULLY will fill every chapter house without a problem. Fraternities have this option too but don't want to give up the ability to have alcohol in their houses.

My daughter's school has a 2 year live on campus requirement, and Greek housing counts (it's owned by the university)...this makes for fierce competition to live in sophomore year, and each group has a system for determining who gets to live in (ADPi has a lottery, her Pi Phi chapter uses a merit points system, etc.). I wish we had that...they have no problems filling their houses.

^^^
At this school, the dorms are old. My daughter's freshman year room was a 7 x 13 3td floor walk-up with a teeny tiny closet. In contrast, the sorority houses were built only about 15 years ago with tons of storage. She lived there the rest of her undergrad time despite having doubles as she said she couldn't rent anything off campus that was nearly as nice.

At my son's school, there is a live-in requirement of moving into the house from the semester following iniitation until graduation. It's not a university requirement but one from the fraternities themselves. The girls don't have this issue as the sororities are unhoused.

The above is a perfect example of why if the house isn't great it's worth the investment to make it a place where the girls want to live. Alcohol rules aside, I'll never be able to live in a house as nice as my chapter house was, complete with cooks, maids and house boys. If you reduce room occupancy a smidge (quads to triples and add 1 or 2 singles) and improve the electrical load, while not exceeding what it costs to rent, then you might find improvement.

They've remodeled 3 of the dorms and torn down the 4th, over the past 2 years, and the seniors gush about how nice they are now compared to when they lived in. Wood's Creek upperclassmen apts. are still a dump, though (so I'm told...I've never been inside), so the Greek houses are definitely preferred by most sophomores. Also, the university passed a junior live on requirement that will take effect when the junior village is completed (now under construction).

Clemson has given us a floor of a dorm rather than a standalone sorority house but as a former Property Manager I figured I'd take a crack at answering these:

Do you have an occupancy plan? Do you enforce it with women who have signed and paid a lease elsewhere? (Knowing that they usually choose to resign rather than deal with the problem of subletting and move in.)
-It's made clear to all freshmen in the newest pledge class that they are expected to live on the hall sophomore year and that they are to look for a roommate within the pledge class rather than sign leases elsewhere. Sophomores haven't signed leases by Bid Day but the three years I've been a member we've always had enough freshmen to not have to require sophomores to live on.

Do you require exec to live in?
-We require Property Manager and the Finance Assistant Vice President to live on as those are usually positions filled by sophomores, and the Assistant FVP transitions to Finance VP at the start of spring semester which means one member of exec will live in. Clemson has just started 60-credit hour requirements for a few positions, including Property Manager, and I think that this will hurt interest because juniors typically do not live on campus or on the hall. I believe our bylaws say that if spaces cannot be filled exec can be forced to live on but we have never needed to do this.

How do you fill spaces for those who want a semester's housing only because they are student teaching second semester?
-Technically all our housing is handled through Clemson Housing because we are on-campus, but those girls would probably not receive first priority unless they could produce a sister who would take over the space for the next semester. Transfers to our chapter often want to move in at the earliest available time which also helps with last-second room additions.

Do you charge a move-out fee?
-Clemson charges if you break a housing lease to move off-campus unless you are an outgoing officer and the incoming officer is taking over your space.

For more context: our dorm floor holds 46 girls, which is standard for most sororities on campus, and we are required to maintain a 95% occupancy rate to be considered in good standing by the university. Girls can opt to pay double their room and board to buy out their space and not have a roommate, and considering this is the cheapest housing on campus some girls choose to do this.

In the chapters I have worked with, filling housing is an International requirement and clearly spelled out in the bylaws. If there are cacacies, all sisters pay a Parlor Fee to make up the missing rent.

Vacancies

This is not just a Sorority thing, it goes as well for Fraternities!

Our house is pretty new and set up for two man rooms with a bath between then. But they still only house one per room. We too charge parlor fees which is only fare as all members use the house.
The main reason houses like to have full houses is to pay the bill incured which is by everyone so that is fair. We had an unwritten rule that each member must live in the house but that has gone by the way side. We are in the process of making it into a rule!

When we had our first house as a local, we all got our outside contracts cancelled and moved in and packed like sardines! Why, that was where all of the action was happening. Those that live in dorms can miss so much. We wanted to live together so when a decision was made on the spur of the moment, it happened. Those in the dorms or other off campus did not get that experience.
If I had not gotten married my Senior year, I would have lived in the house.

Kids today are to pampered and self absorbed to not have "Their own Space".

Good luck and get your houses filled as this equals money for the chapter!!!