After a summer of headline-grabbing housing stories around the University of Cincinnati (UC), The Deacon, an off-campus apartment building, started the school year on the wrong foot with some of its residents.

On Aug. 13, students scheduled to move into The Deacon over the following two days received an email stating their move-in time had been postponed. "We will be in touch to reschedule your move-in time slot ASAP," the email from Housing Services said. "We have learned that some rooms in The Deacon are impacted by leaks in the sprinkler system and the HVAC system."

From then on, students continued receiving emails pushing off their move-in time to as late as the weekend before the fall semester started on Aug. 22. The Deacon is apartment-style housing in which some rooms are leased through UC.

Taylor Houston, a fourth-year journalism student and resident of The Deacon, weighed in on the delay’s effects on her roommate. "Luckily, it didn't affect me as much because I moved in early for work," she said. "But I still can say the situation was frustrating, especially since my roommate hadn't moved in yet. It was just a waiting game honestly. Luckily our apartment was in good condition, so it all worked out."

The frustration Houston felt while waiting for her roommate to move in was shared by students throughout the complex. "It was really frustrating for one of my roommates because she had a rental car scheduled to help her move-in and she didn't have any other time to do it," said Izzy Thomas, a second-year communication design student who also lives in The Deacon. "I was frustrated because I had everything all packed up and ready to go. They also sent the update emails later in the evening, so we didn't even know if we were going to be able to move in the next day until the night before."

UC Housing Services has yet to respond to The News Record’s request for comment.

Eventually, many students received the go-ahead to move into their promised apartments. Yet, some students were put into a hotel room by UC Housing Services due to water damage found in their rooms. Anna Klinedinst, a third-year psychology and interdisciplinary design student, was one of them.

"I am extremely frustrated with The Deacon because I called them at least four times within the week before moving in only to find out I [couldn't move in]," Klinedinst said. "I had already brought all my stuff into the apartment by the time I found out I wasn't supposed to be there. It not only inconvenienced me but my parents who came to help me move in. I was told I needed to move all the stuff out of the apartment as it wasn't ready and was unsuitable for living in."

Klinedinst would later find out that she would be in a hotel until September. "It has frustrated me to no end because now I will have to take off more time from work to move in at a later date," she said.