Housing in crisis
Our View: The city council's rent stabilization ordinance contributes to the already critical student-housing situation in College Park.
Staff Editorial
Issue date: 3/5/07 Section: Opinion
College Park landlord Alan Tyler, along with several student tenants, is suing the College Park City Council in an attempt to block a rent stabilization ordinance. Enacted in 2005, the ordinance sets a ceiling on rent of 1 percent of a single-family home's value, and Tyler has accused the city of overstepping its jurisdiction. While we do not pretend to be legal experts, it appears Tyler's legal arguments are tenuous. But equally tenuous is the city's claim that rent stabilization helps students.
Rents are high because of an insufficient supply of student housing around the university. The administration's shortsighted attitude toward the construction of student dormitories has resulted in a housing waitlist stretching into the hundreds. As a result, students are forced to look off campus in the City of College Park.
Unfortunately, they are met with reluctance at best, and open hostility at worst. The city's rent stabilization ordinance eliminates students from neighborhoods by making it financially unviable for landlords to rent out their properties. The city has created an artificial price ceiling that ignores the fundamentals of College Park's housing situation.
If the city is interested in purging students from neighborhoods, it should do all it can to ensure the construction of additional student towers near campus so at least a minimal amount of housing is available. Instead, we have seen continued political games, including delays on construction projects and costly impact fees. Any residential development not slated as "owner-occupied" faces a nearly impossible battle.
As if the situation weren't bad enough, discussions on drastically reducing the boundaries of a waiver zone for development fees on student housing around College Park are set to take place shortly. If plans come to fruition, a $7,671-per-unit impact fee would be charged on housing projects outside a narrow boundary.
Students are out of options. The university won't house them, and the city won't have them. Without a change in attitude from either body, students will eventually be left homeless, helpless and hung out to dry.
Rents are high because of an insufficient supply of student housing around the university. The administration's shortsighted attitude toward the construction of student dormitories has resulted in a housing waitlist stretching into the hundreds. As a result, students are forced to look off campus in the City of College Park.
Unfortunately, they are met with reluctance at best, and open hostility at worst. The city's rent stabilization ordinance eliminates students from neighborhoods by making it financially unviable for landlords to rent out their properties. The city has created an artificial price ceiling that ignores the fundamentals of College Park's housing situation.
If the city is interested in purging students from neighborhoods, it should do all it can to ensure the construction of additional student towers near campus so at least a minimal amount of housing is available. Instead, we have seen continued political games, including delays on construction projects and costly impact fees. Any residential development not slated as "owner-occupied" faces a nearly impossible battle.
As if the situation weren't bad enough, discussions on drastically reducing the boundaries of a waiver zone for development fees on student housing around College Park are set to take place shortly. If plans come to fruition, a $7,671-per-unit impact fee would be charged on housing projects outside a narrow boundary.
Students are out of options. The university won't house them, and the city won't have them. Without a change in attitude from either body, students will eventually be left homeless, helpless and hung out to dry.
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Tim Anderson
posted 3/05/07 @ 7:14 PM EST
Sounds like the City is attempting to cap the enrollment of the University. I think the University has completed several projects over the last six years in an attempt to keep up with the demand. (Continued…)
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