As ISU students compete with one another to secure the best low-priced rental properties, another ever-growing group in Ames is often left out in the cold, literally.

Jerome, a resident at the Emergency Residence Project’s shelter, said he has struggled to find an apartment to rent in Ames. After being incarcerated, Jerome lost his apartment, causing him to take refuge at ERP’s shelter.

Jerome has a job and is saving up his earnings to rent his own apartment. However, he explained that he has found it difficult to find somewhere to live.

“There are few decently priced places, and you need to act on them quickly because the window [of availability] is not long,” Jerome said. “It’s hard to find an apartment because students take up everything.”

According to the most recent report by Iowa State’s Office of Institutional Research from 2010, there were 13,140 ISU students who lived in off-campus housing in Ames, excluding those who lived in fraternities or sororities.

The 2010 U.S. Census reported that, at the time of the census, there were 23,856 housing units in Ames, with 22,759 of those units being occupied. Of those occupied units, 9,703 were owned and 13,056 were being rented. At the time of the census, Ames had 1,117 vacant housing units — 450 for rent and 253 for sale.

The shelter’s assistant director, Troy Jansen [corrected from: Jenson], said 644 people lived at the shelter in the last fiscal year, with half of those residents being children. The shelter can hold a maximum of 16 to 17 men and six women at any given time. When the shelter is full, ERP can rent up to three rooms at the Ames Motor Lodge if the motel has rooms vacant. Jansen said an average of 51 people resided at ERP’s shelter or at ERP’s rented rooms at the Ames Motor Lodge per day during the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

In addition to providing residence at the shelter, ERP also provides transitional housing for those seeking a more permanent residence and monetary assistance for those needing help paying their rent or utilities. Jansen said the service helped 44 people, or 10 families, with its transitional housing program and 1,637 people through prevention services, such as helping pay rent or utilities.

Jansen and Jerome said they wanted to make sure that college students didn’t think they were blaming them for taking all of the apartments and making some Ames residents homeless.

“Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against college students,” Jerome said. “There’s just more competition when they come to Ames.”

Jansen said he appreciates the presence of college students in Ames because about 60 percent of volunteers that help out at the Emergency Residence Project are college students. He said the flux of college students in Ames in the fall does cause increased competition and increased prices.

According to the Council for Community and Economic Research’s ACCRA Cost of Living Index, the current cost of living is 96.7 percent that of the national average. However, the index reports that the cost of housing in Ames is 104.5 percent that of the national average, meaning housing costs more in Ames than the average nationwide.

“I think college students are willing to pay more for housing,” Jansen said. “Them being here may cause the prices to go up.”

Jerome said he believes real estate agencies and landlords show favoritism toward college students. He explained that he feels real estate agencies and landlords will accept college students’ rental applications before they accept his or other low-income Ames residents.

“I think they’ll take the kids because they know that they’ll get their money,” Jerome said. “They know that the kids have their parents to help out with rent.”

Dave Hyman, Ames property manager for Haverkamp Properties, said realtors are prohibited from discriminating against applicants according to the Fair Housing Act. The act prohibits discrimination in the sale or renting of dwellings on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or familial status. The Iowa Civil Right Commission (Iowa Code 216) also prohibits realtors from discriminating applicants based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Hyman said Haverkamp works on a first-come-first-serve basis when renting properties. He explained that Haverkamp Properties does a criminal background check on all of its applicants and interviews those who have been convicted of felonies. Haverkamp Properties does not rent to applicants who have been evicted from other properties, Hyman said.

“Evictions come with consequences,” Hyman said. “Most property owners won’t rent to people who have been evicted before, but there are a few who may take a small risk.”

The rental market in Ames is strong, Hyman said. He said the demand for rental housing is high because the number of ISU students has increased while the number of housing units, for Haverkamp Properties at least, has remained the same.

Hyman also described how most students rent housing in the fall. He said this hurts some Ames residents because if they become homeless in the winter or spring, they have to wait months before rental units open up again.

“The apartments fill up with students in the fall and the leases go for a year,” Hyman said. “Unfortunately, if someone becomes homeless after that, they may have to be homeless for a whole year.”

Haverkamp Properties has teamed up with Home For Awhile, a faith-based organization that provides transitional housing for families at risk of becoming homeless. Tim Lubinus, leadership team member for Home For Awhile, said the organization was created a year ago to help families in danger of becoming homeless.

“We are trying to catch them before something else goes wrong,” Lubinus said. “We provide them housing to help them get back on their feet.”

Lubinus said Home For Awhile has five units and allows families to stay in the units for a maximum of three months. The organization originally started with two units, which were paid for by donations. Recently, Haverkamp Properties donated three units to the organization.

“We wanted to help out and give back to people,” Hyman said. “We teamed up with the organization because the organization can better help out those in need and we know how to manage property.”

There are many other agencies around Ames that offer assistance to those who are homeless or who are at-risk of becoming homeless. For instance, Good Neighbor provides rent and utility assistance and food vouchers for those in need. Good Neighbor director Mike Fritz said the poor health of the economy has caused more people to seek assistance.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 26.1 percent of Ames residents are below the poverty level. The poverty threshold varies depending upon family size, number of children and age of householder. The 2011 poverty threshold for a family of three was $18,530. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the average income of Ames residents in 2010 was $23,579, only a little more than $5,000 over the poverty threshold.

“Budgets are so stretched that if something happens, that can put a family into a tailspin and they will have to make tough decisions,” Fritz said. “They may have to decide, ‘Do I want to fix the car so I can go to work or should I pay rent?'”

Youth and Shelter Services is another organization that helps Ames’ homeless population. Hope Metheny, program coordinator for the Lighthouse, Transitional Living Program and Supervised Apartment Living, said she works with homeless youth between the ages of 16 and 25.

“Youth don’t necessarily think of themselves as homeless,” Metheny said. “Couch surfing is a form of homelessness. A lot of people who couch surf or stay with friends because they don’t have a home don’t consider themselves homeless.”

YSS has housing units all over Ames that it provides to those who seek assistance. In addition to giving them a place to stay, YSS also works to help youth manage their budgets and find employment. Metheny said finding employment is not always easy for the clients she and her staff assist.

“Finding a job is especially hard for 16- and 17-year-olds,” Metheny said. “College students usually have more experience, and there’s also a maturity factor as well.”

John, a resident at the Emergency Residence Project’s shelter, said he is also trying to find a job. Like Jerome, John sought help from ERP after being incarcerated. John said he has had problems trying to find a job because he must compete with college students.

“A lot of [employers] will look at a college student’s application and will accept their’s and not mine,” John said.

Jerome said he was fortunate enough to have kept the job he had before he was arrested. He explained that he was also lucky in the fact that he found someone to financially back him to rent an apartment. However, he said the apartment won’t be ready for another week. Until then, he will continue living at ERP’s shelter, he said.

“I’m an optimistic pessimist,” Jerome said about his future. “I have no doubt in my mind that I’ll get my own place.”