Dear readers,

New York City’s housing market is notoriously competitive and challenging to navigate. Students are tasked with finding legitimate real estate agents, gathering paperwork they haven’t looked for in years and racing against an unknown pool of applicants — all while in the throes of midterms, finals and responsibilities entirely separate from finding somewhere to live.

WSN’s annual Housing Issue strives to support students as they’re thrown into the city’s most treacherous season of apartment hunting. In August, WSN guided incoming students through their first days on campus with our Welcome Home issue — but moving off campus is a much more daunting task, and creating a home entails more than just signing a lease. This issue not only lays out the next steps for students to find housing, but also delves into the outsized role living spaces play in every facet of life.

Editors profiled students who live far from Greenwich Village, reviewed the mayor’s early housing policies and wrote about finding community on fire escapes and in green spaces. They showcased the ups and downs of off-campus housing and calculated which dorms offer the most bang for your buck. Reporters explored the politics of faculty apartments, Greenwich Hall’s community for Indigenous students and how NYU became the city’s wealthiest private landlord.

The Housing Issue would not have been possible without Zara Surti, who brought the magazine’s cover to life, and Grayson Stotz, who coordinated its design. A special thanks to Lauren Ng, Krish Dev, Anjali Mehta and Aashna Miharia for overseeing its production. As always, thank you to our copy team — Ethan Li, Ella Sabrina Malabanan, Alice Rogers and Erin Zhang — for editing every piece. Your work does not go unrecognized. 

Finally, to our readers: WSN thanks you for supporting us, and we hope you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Sincerely,