All around the campus this weekend, we heard personal stories from our friends who were scrambling to find off-campus housing after the surprise, last-minute announcement that the university could not house more than 600 seniors. Clearly the Department of Resident Life dropped the ball, and it needs to be held accountable for its late notice and failure to make arrangements for those who are financially strapped. But let's not let our short-term frustration with the department cloud out the real underlying issue at hand here: the persistent and long-term lack of decent, affordable housing in College Park. As students mount their "Hooverville" protests on McKeldin Mall this week and The Diamondback continues its relentless coverage of the housing crunch, I urge them to realize that:
- The housing crunch is not new nor is this campus' housing situation unique among universities nationally.
- The housing crunch is not the result of increased university enrollment, which was capped after the school became the state's "flagship university" in the late 1980s.
- The housing crunch is a reflection of a changing student population and the university's rapid transition from a commuter to a residential school.
- The university has neither wholly financed a new traditional dorm since La Plata Hall in 1968 nor a suite-style dorm since New Leonardtown in 1982.
- In the mid-1990s, 50 percent of freshmen sought on-campus housing. Now it's approaching 100 percent.
On this foundation, let's think of a solution for the long-term structural housing shortage in College Park. Yes, the university is partially responsible for solving the problem, but no reasonable person can expect it to house every single student who wants to live on the campus. Indeed, many other colleges deny juniors and seniors outright from on-campus housing. Priority must be given to underclassmen and those who are financially strapped. We should examine solutions that recognize both the university's responsibility to its students and the real necessity of the private market to pick up most, if not all, of the slack.
The solution has to involve a compromise between the university, the city and the county. University administrators must work with the Board of Regents to change long-held debt policies to take into account the real need for traditional dorms on the campus. The city must break free from its anti-rental mentality made evident by rent control, owner occupancy requirements on new construction and the present effort to limit fee incentives. These policies could have a significant effect on the housing situation in the future.
Prince George's County must work to amend local zoning codes to give more financial incentives to private developers for undergraduate and graduate housing. This includes, among many things, allowances for greater housing density, lower parking requirements and special consideration for student complexes next to the campus. County and city officials have already indicated, to student government leaders and RethinkCollegePark.net, their willingness to revisit local zoning codes this summer for the benefit of students. They must act according to these promises.
The careful work of the parties during the past six years has brought thousands of new student beds to the area. Yet the events of the past week remind us that the housing crunch is far from over and that past policies have failed to keep pace with the rapidly changing on-campus population. Inaction would be a form of mutually assured destruction, whereby the university's academic competitiveness is weakened and the city's neighborhoods will continue to be degraded by transient student renters.
Housing will surely plague students for years to come, but I'd ask those who are furious with the situation today to focus their current frustrations to bring about real long-term change instead of just more venting. In the past, students have been victims of the broken state of the political process in the area. If students don't use this opportunity to begin on the road to a solution, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.
David Daddio is a senior environmental science and policy major and an editor of RethinkCollegePark.net. He can be reached at dwdaddio@gmail.com.
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