The recently re-founded tenant-landlord union of the Undergraduate Student Government is having a meeting tonight to talk with students who have questions and concerns about living off-campus.

Brian McGough, USG west side senator and chairman of the union, said the meeting is to help students with problems when it comes to living off-campus.

Basically, student concerns with off-campus living are high because landlords have been screwing over students for so long, McGough said. This will be an informational mediation meeting where we’ll discuss tenant-landlord problems, parking problems, crime prevention and any other student concerns brought up.

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McGough said the union has been around for about 20 years, but nothing has really been done with it until this year.

When I heard about the union, I started looking into the USG files and found out that it has been around since 1976, or so, McGough said. When I decided to take over the chairman position, I found most of the files dating back to 1983. And there really wasn’t a lot of information on it from back then. It’s been almost 10 years, and no one has really worked on the union.

Because it has been so long since any work has been done on the union, McGough said the group is working from the ground up.

The history (of the union) is pretty much not there, and that’s the problem, McGough said. Every year we were back to square one. I hate to say we’re founding the union, but that’s basically what we’re doing. We’re trying to establish ourselves on the campus.

There have been a lot of changes over the years in landlord-tenant relations, and that is one of the main reasons the union is starting from scratch, McGough said.

Carbondale has changed a lot when it comes to what landlords can and cannot do, McGough said. For example, the lock-out policy has changed. It used to be the landlord could lock a tenant out and there was nothing anyone, including the police, could do about it. Now, if you are locked out you can call the police and they can fine the landlord up to $500. This really isn’t a huge fine, but it helps keep people from being locked out of the apartment in the dead of winter with nowhere to go.

McGough said the attempts being made by the union to make leases more tenant-friendly, are causing some friction between the union and some landlords.

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Right now the relationship with the landlords is not on level ground, McGough said. When I approach a landlord it’s already a heated debate. We are an advocacy group that is fighting against what they (landlords) are wanting for their own gain. We are really trying to make leases more tenant-friendly instead of being landlord-friendly like they are now.

McGough said the union is already taking complaints, mainly about students not getting their security deposits back. But student apathy is a major problem, he said.

Most of the students I have talked to have really positive feedback, but we are trying to deal with the student apathy, which is one of our main problems, McGough said. Everybody is for it (the union), but no one wants to do anything to help.

McGough said there will be several people at the meeting to field questions about the rights of a tenant, including a Carbondale police officer and members of the SIU Student Legal Assistance office.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. in the Student Recreational Center Conference Room.