Co-op residents face deteriorating homes and rising rents

Since the Cornell housing guarantee ended after his sophomore year, Allan Chu ’26 was faced with the challenge of finding affordable off-campus housing. After exploring a number of options, he discovered that co-op housing offered a cost-effective solution.

“Financially (living in a co-op) is a lot cheaper. I remember my first year, the triple cost was about $5,000,” said Chu, president of RedBud Cooperative.

However, co-op leaders told The Sun that university officials have not provided enough support to maintain this housing option. Residents say roofs have collapsed and floors have collapsed in abandoned buildings, and the co-op program has seen little growth.

Cornell owns co-ops and they are considered a type of on-campus housing. However, co-op residents are still responsible for some home maintenance.

Homes are facing challenges in responding to the deteriorating nature of aging homes, said Remi Kageyama ’25, president of the Watermargin Cooperative.

“Our roof is collapsing and will collapse in nine years if we don’t raise $500,000 to pay for it, because Cornell won’t pay for it,” Kageyama said.

Kageyama noted that four of Cornell’s eight co-ops have had floors collapse in the past few years. Residents must sign a contract that will take responsibility for that damage, Kageyama said.

“I think the main thing that the co-ops are unhappy with about the university is the way our contracts are written, where we are responsible for our own maintenance and repairs,” Kageyama said.

Another complaint from co-ops concerns Cornell’s attempts to raise rental rates. According to graduate student Vincent Eynon ’24, a Triphammer co-op resident, the Triphammer co-op board has also faced backlash from Cornell Housing regarding their efforts to create unique rent rates based on room size.

Chu shared similar sentiments, noting that Redbud has faced challenges due to the university’s recent efforts to raise rents. This has become a pressing issue for many co-ops as they try to balance living expenses with the need for funding to deal with problems when they arise.

Students are also frustrated by Cornell’s lack of efforts to expand and promote co-ops as a housing option.

Eynon said co-ops are “certainly contrary to what Cornell considers normal.”

“There are definitely many benefits to this (as opposed to what Cornell considers normal), and we see those benefits every day as we watch students live in our communities,” Eynon said. “The administrators see it a little bit and act like they’re proud of it. But there is no incentive to create more residential complexes like ours.”

Many co-op residents feel that this arrangement places an unfair burden on them, especially when problems may require immediate resolution. While self-government can create a sense of community, it can also lead to frustration when resources and support from the University are limited.

Residents said Cornell, who owns the co-op property, expressed pride in the community while maintaining a business relationship with it.

“Cornell doesn’t interfere in day-to-day life,” Chu said. “But when it comes to more administrative measures like billing and rent, Cornell gets involved. We can make suggestions, but ultimately Cornell determines the prices.”

Cornell Housing wrote in a statement to The Sun that the co-op program provides participants with a dedicated team of employees who oversee the maintenance and upkeep of the building, as well as a financial advisor who helps with budgeting and forecasting.

In addition, the Housing and Residential Life team supports a variety of functions including license management, scholarship billing, communications, recruitment advertising and process management, according to the statement.

Rohit Tsundupalli and Matt Mikhailoff are Sun employees and can be reached at (email protected) and (email protected).

Co-op residents face deteriorating homes and rising rents

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