Last quarter saw an influx of demand for on-campus housing that exceeded UW Housing and Food Services’ (HFS) capacity.

As a result, many students were forced to live in makeshift rooms, and several rooms were converted to house three people rather than two.

Record numbers of students found themselves in one of two situations: crammed into double rooms converted into triples, or sleeping with four or more other “roommates” in dorm lounges.

The departure of residents, mainly for the Greek system and other off-campus housing, has more or less solved the problem for the time being, although next year may be a different story.

“No one is on the waiting list anymore,” said Vennie Gore, assistant director of HFS. “We don’t have folks living in temporary housing.”

Gore attributes the overflow problem to increased freshman enrollment, a problem HFS will most likely have to deal with yet again in the coming autumn quarter.

“The problem with this year is that we were still getting people applying as late as September,” he said. “That has a big impact on available space.”

One of the solutions to the problem is ensuring everyone who needs housing applies early enough, Gore said.

Entering freshmen are given priority, so returning students should apply as early as possible to increase the probability of getting a room.

The HFS office is still in overdrive mode, working to alleviate the crunch.

The majority of once-inhabited lounge areas are now squatter-free and open for their intended use, giving dorm life at least the outward veneer of ordinary and sedate.

Even some of the double rooms pressed into service as triple rooms have begun to revert to their intended number of occupants.

Bob Salim, a freshman student living in north campus housing, inhabits a double room that was until recently a makeshift triple room.

“It wasn’t really uncomfortable,” Salim said of having a third person in his room. “It was OK.”

During the shuffle, some rooms had a third inhabitant move elsewhere, only to have another person crammed in their place.

Lars Phillips, another freshman, is one example.

Phillips spoke of his frustration at having yet another third person back in the room, after his first third-roommate moved into a fraternity to escape the crowding on campus.

All in all, however, it wasn’t completely terrible, he said.

Junior Leah Davis, who remains in temporary housing with four other roommates, doesn’t want things to change, regardless of the availability of more comfortable accommodations.

“They said they were going to move us at the end of fall quarter,” she said. “We want to stay here, we’ve told them. Now that it’s [winter] quarter, we really don’t want to move.”

HFS is looking into solutions to solve housing shortage problems for the long term. Potential plans include building a new housing complex or even renovating the existing ones, Gore said.

An in-depth study is in the works to determine future housing need and expenditures for the next 30 years, Gore said.

“I think that we’re going to be [well-prepared] as we get into the next couple months, as we see how the new freshman class shapes up,” Gore said.

Reach reporters Jeff Tripoli and Anthony Erickson at news@thedaily.washington.edu.