Despite its mission to provide tenants with a support group for housing difficulties, some students say Madison’s Tenant Resource Center has not provided them with the help to get out of jams. The nonprofit organization has become overwhelmed in recent years by requests for assistance from tenants, who make up 60 percent of Madison’s population.

“We’ve tried to call the Tenant Resource Center a bunch of times, but either they never answered or they couldn’t tell us what to do,” University of Wisconsin student Angie Olson said. “It was frustrating because we didn’t have another place to go.”

Olson also said she and her roommates’ calls to TRC often went unreturned.

“I remember one week we must have called them 15 times and left messages, but no one ever called us back,” Olson said.

Members of the TRC staff say they have been available to students in need of housing legal advice. TRC has worked long and hard to make tenant housing a safe, practical, and comfortable way to live in Madison, according to Megan Hicks, current program director of TRC. According to the TRC website, the center attempts to confront a vast majority of problems. Hicks maintains that the TRC is a hardworking group that is highly motivated to advise residents on living situations, but the center also gears itself towards the education of both tenants and landlords.

Student activist Phil Ejercito agrees. He says TRC’s benefits have stretched to many people.

“I know a lot of people that have benefited from the Tenant Resource Center,” Ejercito said. “They have done a lot for me personally.”

Hicks said one hardship the TRC constantly faces is the need for more volunteers.

Although TRC receives funding from sponsors like Dane County, the Student Services Finance Committee, the city of Madison, and numerous private donors, it still relies heavily on the time of its volunteers.

According to Hicks, there are only five paid employees on the entire TRC staff.

Last year, the TRC provided more than 6,500 people with housing assistance and advice, Hicks said.

“Every year, we provide service and advice to more people than we ever have before,” Hicks said.

As the campus and the city of Madison grow larger, so will the need for the TRC. At the moment, both Ejercito and Hicks feel that the TRC has room for improvement, but according to Hicks, “What organization based on the work of volunteers doesn’t?”

However, Olson contends that the TRC’s lack of responsiveness cost her financially.

“One time we had a bunch of money at stake concerning carpet cleaning and we needed advice,” she said. “I didn’t find them helpful at all.”