Fwd: LETTER: Student housing task force not answer | TuscaloosaNews.com
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Subject: LETTER: Student housing task force not answer | TuscaloosaNews.com
Letter-to-the-editorRusty Barton
TuscaloosaPublished: Sunday, July 7, 2013Dear Editor: When did it become the job of our local officials to get involved in private business decisions? I’m concerned about the quote in an article in The Tuscaloosa News on June 20, that says our leaders are now officially frightened and scared about private housing investments in our city.
We don’t need a task force to examine policies regulating future developments of student housing (or any housing or business) by private companies. The city has codes and policies in place that gives it all the information it needs to do its job, which includes protection of private property rights. I don’t believe city leaders were elected to choose certain companies or property owners that will be allowed to participate in the rebuilding and growth of Tuscaloosa. A public task force should not have any input in private business decisions. It is just an excuse to accomplish certain agendas.
There is no issue with the student rental market and its future capacity. Tuscaloosa needs affordable rental housing. Students who live in rental houses and older apartments might want to move to the new ones. If they do, someone else will have the opportunity to rent the houses and apartments that they vacate. If the owners don’t want vacant apartments or vacant houses, they will adjust the rent to affordable rates or repurpose their property.
Task forces and more studies are not the answer. Let our free market system work as it was designed to do. We don’t need more government regulations.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20130707/NEWS/130709896/1028/opinion03?Title=LETTER-Student-housing-task-force-not-answer