On September 3rd, 2020, Temple University announced that it was closing campus and moving to all online classes for the entire fall semester. On-campus students who return home by September 13th are getting a full housing refund. However, students living in privately owned housing are trapped into leases for the year. This is the case for residents of Vantage in Philadelphia, PA. Although technically listed as an off-campus apartment complex, Vantage is a student housing building right on Temple's campus. The residents are all students of Temple University. Many residents signed leases with Vantage as early as February (6 months before move in) looking for a cheaper alternative to Temple's traditional student dorms. Everything got more complicated when the Covid-19 pandemic hit Philadelphia as well as the rest of the country. Most of Vantage's leases were signed by students before the Covid-19 pandemic was even a thing. Months progressed, and the pandemic got worse and worse, but the company wouldn't offer any leeway because leases were already signed. As a result, students were trapped into having to go live on a campus everyone knew was unsafe. To no one's surprise, Temple's case number spiked, and classes got suspended to all online. Now, students are stuck paying a ton of money each month to live at a campus that is effectively closed. The leases we signed were from a time when life was normal, and when no one could have anticipated things being like this. We now have to pay a ridiculous amount of money to live on a closed college campus, where our families can't even visit us due to the new guest policies. The company has shown a blatant disregard for resident health and safety by making us go through with everything from the beginning, let alone the financial hardships that the pandemic has caused some families. Many residents have lost the jobs they were relying on to pay for these apartments. We are asking for an option to buy out of our current leases or at a minimum a reduction in rent due to these circumstances. 

No one at Vantage/The View seem to be listening, so I'm organizing in hopes we'll have strength in numbers. Please share and spread the word.

Update: I added The View to this petition since they are in the exact same situation and it is owned by the same company.