Crowded dorms have, in recent years, been addressed by converting double rooms into triples and housing students temporarily in common areas and dorm lounges.

Now, to help address the issues of overcrowding, UW-owned apartments are being converted into residence halls — meaning some other UW students may be losing their homes.

In a recent Residence Hall Student Association meeting, representatives from the Department of Housing and Food Services (HFS) announced that Stevens Court M, a UW-owned apartment, is being converted into a residence hall for new freshmen and transfer students.

“[The conversion] is due to high demand for residence hall space,” HFS assignments supervisor Erin Birkenkopf said. “We expect that converting Stevens Court M will reduce the number of freshmen who will be on the waiting list for autumn quarter housing.”

Birkenkopf said the conversion will add 150 more spaces next fall, meaning more undergraduates will have the opportunity to live in a residence hall.

However, the 53 graduate and professional students now living in Stevens Court M will have to find other housing by then.

“I heard about the change at the beginning of the quarter,” said Panu Sam-Ang, a graduate student living in Stevens Court M. “It’s not fair for the grad students. The number of apartments for grad students is already limited, and they’re making them less and less.”

HFS has arranged for the students being asked to move to have priority at other apartment complexes in the area.

“The residents being required to move out of Stevens Court M will have priority to apartments at Nordheim Court, Commodore Duchess and Radford Court,” said JoAnna Olson, HFS student services manager.

But this doesn’t provide much solace for some students.

“The rent is much higher there,” Sam-Ang said. “It’s much too expensive for me.”

The price students pay now at Stevens Court M is about $618 a month.

Distance also poses an issue for students being forced to move.

Commodore Duchess is the only option of the three that offers a similar proximity to campus as Stevens Court. By comparison, Radford Court is located nearly three miles away from campus, posing major convenience issues to many.

The change has left some students questioning the University’s priorities.

“It’s like they don’t think grad students are important,” Sam-Ang said.

But the increasing demand for housing has been an ongoing issue and is not going unnoticed.

Last May, Rob Lubin, assistant director of facilities and operations of HFS, and J.R. Fulton, capital planning and sustainability manager of HFS, proposed a “Student Housing Strategic Master Plan” to help alleviate the pressure caused by the increased demand for housing.

Among other things, the plan involves the construction of new residence halls for freshmen housing and new apartments to accommodate upperclassmen and graduate students.

In addition, the UW has hired Pam Schreiber as the new head of HFS, partly due to her strong track record of managing housing projects in the past, including a massive project recently completed at Florida Gulf Coast University.

If all goes according to plan, these new facilities will be completed by 2013.

Reach contributing writer Eric Staples at development@dailyuw.com.