UCLA provides housing for postdocs. Here’s the website : http://housing.ucla.edu

There is a complex near campus on Veteran and Wilshire (Weyburn Terrace) and there are several complexes south of the University in the Palms/Venice Area. These are collectively called the University Apartments/South (UA/S) complexes. These are all within 4-5 miles from UCLA (~30min by bus).

Rents are cheaper for UCLA housing. Equivalent housing in the Palms area costs ~$200-$300 more.

Requirements and hierarchy in housing processing:

1. 1. Married graduate students with kids
2. 2. Married grad students
3. 3. Single Grad Students
4. 4. Married postdocs with kids
5. 5. Married postdocs
6. 6. Single postdocs

You can apply for housing online. You have to submit an application (with a fee). After applying, your name will be put on a waiting list for people wanting housing. Usually you will not hear anything for a couple of months from the Housing Office. I encourage you to call them and inquire whether they have received your application and where you are on the waiting list.

Generally speaking, postdocs have lower priority, but if you’re married with kids, you have a pretty good chance. One advice about housing is to keep on calling the housing office and politely ask the person talking to you to see is he/she can expedite your application and whether there’s any vacant apartments. Current residents of UA/S pay on a month-to-month basis and they can leave the complex at any time as long as they give a 1 month notice. If you happen to call when a vacancy just opens, the housing officer might decide to just offer you the apartment. Clearly this means that you have to decide prior to calling them, whether you’re willing to leave your current apartment and move to the UA/S complex in a short period of time.