Brandeis students rallied alongside Waltham residents Saturday to urge city officials to develop more affordable housing in response to rent costs, which protesters said have tripled in the last several years. Around 50 people attended the event on the Waltham Common on the corner of Main and Moody streets. The Waltham Alliance To Create Housing, or WATCH, which ran the event, hopes the city will build permanent affordable housing for low-to-moderate-income families.

"It's really nice to meet people in the community and see what they're doing," said Holly Sarkissian '08, a founding member of Waltham Links, a group formed last semester that focuses on facilitating student relations with Waltham residents.

Five Brandeis undergraduate students, two alumni and one Bentley student attended the rally, Sarkissian said.

The Waltham Affordable Housing Committee, another community group, is backing a plan to build affordable housing units at the sites of the now-closed Banks Elementary School on Russell Street and South Middle School using non-profit developers. Banks was replaced in 2003 by the William F. Stanley Elementary School on South Street.

The group said it is placing emphasis on rental housing because newer apartment complexes like Cronin's Landing and Longview Place cater to wealthier tenants.

Rachel Kleinbaum '08, a founder of Waltham Links, said the club was started because Brandeis students do not know much about the Waltham community. She said the group hopes to help students "break out of the Brandeis bubble" and connect with the city.

"Some of the activist groups on campus are in their own little worlds," Kleinbaum said. "The great thing about Waltham is that its people are politically active."

Erica Schwarz, WATCH's director of community organizing, said students like those from Brandeis have helped spread awareness for their cause. She said Brandeis students have interned and helped out at WATCH in the past.

"There have never been students really active in local politics," Schwarz said. "But the more people that are involved, the more you get done."

Roma Goodlander '02, WATCH's job development program director, has been involved with WATCH since 2001. She was an intern with the group as an undergraduate and is currently studying non-profit management at the Heller School for Social Policy. She said she was delighted to see Brandeis students participating in the event.

"I feel like I'm one of them because that's how I came to WATCH and how I became interested in Waltham and these issues," Goodlander said. "I get excited to see the next generation [of Brandeis students] here."

Matt LeBlanc, WATCH's Community Organizer and a member of the Waltham Affordable Housing Committee, has been working on this initiative for nearly three years. He said the rally helped remind city officials that their program is important to the community.

"We have the good fortune of having some beautiful, historic buildings that are available now," LeBlanc said.

Kleinbaum also said there are good reasons for ordinary Brandeis students to care about the Waltham community's issues. She said the city has a good deal of history and culture to offer students, and they should get involved even if it is only for their own interests.

"It feels good to be able to help the town that we are so much a part of," Kleinbaum said.