Different PoV on the "no-more-than-four" ordinance

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Eva Webster

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Sep 29, 2015, 5:34:28 PM9/29/15
to AllstonBrighton2006, Cleveland-Cir...@googlegroups.com
Joanne — I have deep respect for you, and as you know very well, we share the goal of improving the quality of life in A-B.  Like you and many other long term residents, I would like to diminish the volume of residential real estate that is used as student rentals in our neighborhood — to make more homes available to families and working people.

But I do not believe that strict enforcement of the no-more-than-four-undergraduates (per housing unit) ordinance would move us in the right direction.  For one thing — if you distribute the number of off-campus students across more housing units (by arbitrarily capping the number of students to no more than 4 per unit — regardless of the size of the unit, or the number of bedrooms), all you would accomplish is increase the number of housing units occupied by student renters — and decrease the number of units available to regular people.

There are several other reasons why the ordinance has not worked, hasn’t accomplished much — and will continue being ineffective — but unfortunately it requires more time to explain than I have now.

Let me just start with one claim you made:

 “Even if all landlords don’t ultimately end up renting a particular unit to college students, many of the landlords – and their rental agents – advertise in hopes of doing so and in hopes of collecting exorbitant rents from groups of undergraduates, or for that matter, groups of graduate students. In other words, the number of apartments pitched to college students is greater than the number that are ultimately rented by college students because rarely does supply precisely match demand in this context.  In fact, this is proven by the remnants of rentals still available on the internet now in Brighton and Allston that were geared toward students for September 1, and went unfilled by college students apparently.”


There are several assumptions in that paragraph (and the rest of your message) that are not entirely correct — because they are based on generalizations — but you make them sound as if they were facts.  I understand — everyone has their beliefs that they wish to justify — and that’s OK.  That’s why we can have thoughtful discussions.

It is not true that all landlords offer Sept. 1 leases because they want to get maximum rents by renting to groups of student.  In fact, I think that the majority of landlords are not targeting students at all — although some, with the larger units, may be targeting groups or roommates whether they are students or not — and the ordinance cannot (nor should it) prevent non-student roommate situations.  So why should some individuals be able to save on rent by having more than 3 roommates in a large house, but students cannot?  (If the issue is student behavior, the ordinance in no way addresses that.)

My husband and I used to rent out two apartments, with the lease usually starting September 1st — but it was never because we wanted to rent to students (we never did), but because many young renters (which predominate in our area, perhaps because middle age and older workers often move on to owning their homes, or renting in the suburbs) start their first jobs in September, and would not have wanted to pay rent during summer months that they are usually spending outside of Boston.

The Boston area also has a lot of jobs that adhere to the academic calendar, so many renters who are not students also want to move-in around Sept. 1

Additionally, many workers who need to move due to a job change (nothing or little to do with academia) try to time the move for September 1st if possible, because they hope to get some vacation time before starting a new job, or need summer months to sort out and pack their belongings, and resolve/terminate outstanding issues in the location that they are leaving.

It appears to be true that many, maybe the majority of all leases in A-B, turn on September 1st — but this does not mean that this is exclusively because of student rentals.  In neighborhoods that have relatively few student renters (such as West Roxbury, Roslindale, East Boston), or in the suburbs, September 1st is also a popular move-in/move-out date.

I will continue this discussion, with respect additional points, in my next posting.

Best,

Eva


On 9/26/15, 7:42 PM, "Joanne D'Alcomo" <allstonbr...@googlegroups.com on behalf of jdal...@gmail.com> wrote:

  

Mike,

I'm finally getting around to writing about your comment in which you wondered if college students were being scapegoated for high rents and prices in Brighton.  Here's my thinking:  

 

     College students have an impact on housing far beyond their pure numbers. Just think of it:  leases in Allston and Brighton (and certain other neighborhoods of the city) begin September 1. Now that’s not because professionals or working people or singles or even  families suddenly need housing on September 1, but rather it’s because college students drive the Boston rental market and the September 1 date is intended to coincide with the start of the first semester of the college calendar year.  

 

 Even if all landlords don’t ultimately end up renting a particular unit to college students, many of the landlords – and their rental agents – advertise in hopes of doing so and in hopes of collecting exorbitant rents from groups of undergraduates, or for that matter, groups of graduate students. In other words, the number of apartments pitched to college students is greater than the number that are ultimately rented by college students because rarely does supply precisely match demand in this context.  In fact, this is proven by the remnants of rentals still available on the internet now in Brighton and Allston that were geared toward students for September 1, and went unfilled by college students apparently. 

 

As a result of college students driving the rental market, rents in areas where there are concentrations of students such as Brighton and Allston are dominated by, and distorted by, the effect of those thousands of students in the marketplace. The high rents typically don't reflect the quality of the housing – rather, they reflect the number of tenants the  landlord expects to be able to fit into the apartment or house,  specifically, and often, the number of college students with different financial resources, such as parents.

If college students didn’t have such an impact on rents in Allston and Brighton  (and, as a consequence, housing prices in general since the market value of  homes and condos is correspondingly affected by rents),  you wouldn’t see the overwhelming number of leases in our area begin September 1, and apartments so heavily advertised for September 1.   The fact that lease terms start on September 1 for the most part in Allston and Brighton is so well-recognized that the media regularly covers the jammed streets and chaos that ensues each year in our neighborhoods on that date.  No such traffic and moving-in chaos occurs at other times of the year, and there is no media coverage.  In fact, the only activity remotely approaching the move-in frenzy of September 1 in Allston and Brighton is the moving-out chaos at the end of the college year – May. 

So, I think that the empirical proof of the impact of college students on Brighton and Allston rents is prevalence of lease terms  beginning on September 1, and the accompanying advertising that we all have access to on the internet in the spring and summer where landlords and agents flood the rental listings seeking tenants for September 1.  There is simply no other time of the year that I am aware of in which so many apartments and homes in Brighton and Allston are advertised to start a lease term, other than September 1. 

Joanne   



 






  















On Sat, Sep 19, 2015 at 3:16 PM, Mike D <michael...@gmail.com> wrote:
Charles, in response to your second point rental applications ask for employer/occupation and landlords can ask one if he/she is a student.

Not sure if you are on the Cleveland Circle group, but there are more posts on there stating that students are not a protected class, so landlords can say no students, no pets, certain income limits and credit reports etc.

While I do think schools need to provide enough beds for all their undergrads, I wonder if students are being scapegoated for high rents and prices in Brighton. According to this Globe article there are about 1.5k students living off campus in Brighton.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/04/08/more-college-students-living-boston-campuses/tbSJ3Ab9Bx47pRR9JQmpMO/igraphic.html?p1=Article_Graphic

Brighton has a population approaching 40k people, so off campus undergrads are less than 4 percent of the population. If/when they all return to campus how will prices change?

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