Commentary: City Council proposal hurts student renters
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: Editorial
Recently, City Councilor Michael Ross pushed a petition to try to change zoning codes to limit residences so that no more than four students are allowed to live together. The Boston Zoning Commission will vote on the proposal next month and it has many potential points of harm to students.
Ross says the new zoning will eliminate the slums college students are forced to live in; however, he refuses to set a square footage stipulation in the petition. There are many legitimate five-plus bedroom apartments in the city, all of which will have to limit their intake of students to four.
Ross also ignores the economic theory of supply and demand, claiming there is a price ceiling to housing in Boston. Currently in Mission Hill students are paying up to roughly $950 a month for housing; yet if the supply is reduced and the demand remains constant these prices will rise. He believes that because Northeastern housing is priced at roughly $1,000 a month, no student will pay more than $1,000 for housing. This notion is false as there are already Northeastern students paying upward of $1,500 for off-campus housing in other areas of the city.
The main thing Ross doesn't realize is students don't always live off campus because they want to. Sometimes a student will receive an astronomical housing wait list number for the on-campus housing lottery and be forced to live off campus. If this proposal passes, students being forced to live off campus will experience a price increase more than the excessive price paid for on campus housing.
The "No More Than Four" proposal is detrimental to students and non-students alike. With minimal foreseeable benefits and increased rents being inevitable there is no reason to support this measure.
- Michael Rockland is a middler finance major, Student Government Association senator and real estate agent at Boardwalk Properties.
Ross says the new zoning will eliminate the slums college students are forced to live in; however, he refuses to set a square footage stipulation in the petition. There are many legitimate five-plus bedroom apartments in the city, all of which will have to limit their intake of students to four.
Ross also ignores the economic theory of supply and demand, claiming there is a price ceiling to housing in Boston. Currently in Mission Hill students are paying up to roughly $950 a month for housing; yet if the supply is reduced and the demand remains constant these prices will rise. He believes that because Northeastern housing is priced at roughly $1,000 a month, no student will pay more than $1,000 for housing. This notion is false as there are already Northeastern students paying upward of $1,500 for off-campus housing in other areas of the city.
The main thing Ross doesn't realize is students don't always live off campus because they want to. Sometimes a student will receive an astronomical housing wait list number for the on-campus housing lottery and be forced to live off campus. If this proposal passes, students being forced to live off campus will experience a price increase more than the excessive price paid for on campus housing.
The "No More Than Four" proposal is detrimental to students and non-students alike. With minimal foreseeable benefits and increased rents being inevitable there is no reason to support this measure.
- Michael Rockland is a middler finance major, Student Government Association senator and real estate agent at Boardwalk Properties.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 5
Matthew Soleyn
posted 2/28/08 @ 9:25 AM EST
This "No More than Four" law is in violation of anti-discrimination laws and any competent court will strike it down.
Erin
posted 2/28/08 @ 10:00 AM EST
I completely agree with both of you. It's discrimination based either on age or education, depending on how you look at it. Michael Ross' real reason for trying to pass this proposal is to try and drive students out of Mission Hill. (Continued…)
aliss
A. Liss
posted 3/06/08 @ 12:38 PM EST
You all should show up to the hearing the Zoning Commission is holding on March 12, 9th floor room 900 in Boston City Hall. We do have a voice, but we need to be there to be heard. (Continued…)
RockTheVote
posted 3/07/08 @ 5:09 PM EST
>A. Liss
>posted 3/06/08 @ 12:38 PM EST
>You all should show up to the hearing the Zoning Commission is holding >on March 12, 9th floor room 900 in Boston City Hall. (Continued…)
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