Students Contribute To The Affordable Housing Crisis. Can Colleges Help Solve The Problem?

exterior view of Seneca Newnham Residence
SenecaNewnhamStudentResidence photo by Raysonho is licensed under CC0 1.0
Seneca College, in Toronto, Ontario, offers accommodation to students at its Newnham Residence.

To say that students contribute to a housing crisis is not meant to suggest that students are less worthy of affordable housing than others. This does tend to be one side of a ‘town versus gown’ debate, however.

Town or city councils can take a dim view when rents are driven up because ‘temporary citizen’ students flood the municipality in search of low cost digs. That causes hardship for ‘long term’ citizens who need affordable accommodations.1

Can colleges and other similar institutions help solve the problem? A recent story by one student, anxious for the learning experience of living off campus with others, details the pitfalls of the campus dormitory alternative.2

Not every student yearns the off-campus experience, however. These days, it could mean off-off campus — scarce accommodation may only offer the inconvenience of a long daily commute to school.

How scarce? A growing trend in California is student ‘accommodation’ in a vehicle parked in a college or university parking lot. It’s frightening that a bill has been introduced in the state legislature to permit such temporary accommodation — essentially normalizing a homeless life for cash-strapped students. Read more in USA TODAY: Homeless In College: Students Sleep In Cars, On Couches When They Have Nowhere Else To Go

For a more positive view of one much more sane alternative — on-campus dormitory living — read more in CALmatters: Should Community Colleges Build Housing?

Footnotes

  1. Try: Town Bonus: A College Economy -> Town Burden: Less Affordable Housing
  2. Try: Student Housing Woes: Worthy Of Worry Or Wrong-Headed Whining?

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