Student's Trip Relies on Finding Shelter

In just 13 days, Sovenia Kelly is supposed to board a plane from Jamaica to New York to take part in a work exchange program, but she still has no place to stay once she gets to East Hampton.

Kelly, a 22-year-old law student at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, is desperately looking for help. She said she can't get on the plane without an arrangement waiting in the states because she has to put down an address on her work visa.

And, time is running out.

Kelly is one of approximately 30,000 students who will take part in the J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program in New York this year. Agencies find employment opportunities for the students, and Kelly said she has a job lined up at Starbuck's in East Hampton.

A non-immigrant, work-and study-based exchange program, 170,000 students take part every month in the United States, according to the Department of State website. In 2011, there were over 30,300 participants in New York alone.

Kelly came to the United States two years ago through the program and worked in New Jersey, in various cashier positions at places like Six Flags. Housing was arranged in that instance.

But, housing in East Hampton has been far more difficult to line up, even with four to five other students looking to pool their money, Kelly said. With the high summer rental market, they've come up with no leads. Their budget is only $75 to $100 each, per week.

"I have been searching the Net for months now, however this has borne no fruit as the contacts I have called are either completely booked for that time or they are far too expensive," Kelly said.

Laraine Creegan, the executive director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, said Kelly isn't alone. "It's always been a problem," Creegan said of finding temporary housing. She predicts this year it will be even worse as some inn owners who used to rent cheaply aren't doing it this year.

Large local companies that employ students arrange for housing, but Creegan said more needs to be done. "We obviously need help. The town has to address affordable housing and temporary housing," she said.

Speaking from her dorm room in Kingston last week, Kelly is holding out hope someone will offer her a room or a lead in the next two weeks.

The money she makes during the summer helps pay her tuition as she pursues a Bachelor of Law degree. It is also a chance to experience a different culture, a part of the program that really excites her, she said.

"It's not just you're traveling to another country just for traveling," she said, "It's an environment that fosters growth for students and a chance to meet new people."

Kelly said she is used to living in tight quarters — she has more than a dozen siblings and comes from a working class family in the St. Mary parish, in the Jamaican countryside. Her father is a farmer and a mason, and her mother is a clerk. She even taught kindergarten for a time in her hometown.

If you would like to get in touch with Soveria, please leave a comment below or email your information to Taylor.Vecsey@patch.com.