STAFF EDIT: Follow BU’s lead on housing

It’s one of the biggest issues in the Allston-Brighton community. Students choke the neighborhoods near Boston College, Harvard University and Boston University, creating late-night partying, excessive trash and building violations. Students’ habits are the salt in the wounds of the relationships between area universities and their neighborhood residents, causing frustration and irritation and exacerbating an already expensive and dense housing situation. So it’s not surprising that student housing has been among the top issues of this year’s District 9 city council campaign. Mark Ciommo and Jerry McDermott will face off tomorrow, and though their stances toward student housing are almost the same, their other suggested solutions to the housing crunch may well decide who gets to head to City Hall after former Councilman Brian Honan’s death in July.

Residents have a point students are often disrespectful of their off-campus neighborhoods. BU administrators should be congratulated for taking the lead in creating attractive on-campus housing and attempting to draw more upperclassmen on-campus, though there may be a few more steps they can take. Now, other area colleges must take a more active role in creating attractive on-campus housing, as both candidates in the race have suggested.

Students are a transient population with few ties to the local community. Though BU students live on the school’s neighboring streets for nine months a year, they are not a population tied to the community’s civic life or interested in its future. Students move in and out every year and are focused on their academic and social lives, rather than the well-being of Allston-Brighton families, schools and public services. By and large, they do not take an active interest in area politics or participate in area activities. Both city council candidates have suggested they hurt area residents’ quality of life, and they are right.

But students move to the surrounding neighborhoods for a reason. Oftentimes for less money, students can rent fully functional apartments with the possibility of as many, if not more, amenities than they are supplied with on-campus. They can have all the freedom they want, away from the life of guest policies, security and RAs. And, best of all, they can drink all the alcohol they want without as much fear of getting caught and punished.

BU has taken huge steps toward mitigating the problem and lessening tensions between its students and their neighbors. The Student Village project will add nearly 1,000 new beds in premium apartments and be near BU’s new hockey arena and a new student recreation center. The apartments are attractive, comfortable and near most students’ classes. BU’s plans are the type of plans BC and Harvard should look into to draw students back to campus and lessen tensions with their Allston-Brighton neighbors. Ciommo and McDermott have called for it, and they are right.

But as Ciommo and McDermott have also pointed out, there is still more BU can do. BU’s modified guest policy is still heavily restrictive in comparison to the type of freedom off-campus residents are given and, in many cases, room and board rates are much more expensive than rents often are off campus. Add to that the ability to order as many TV channels as one’s heart desires, and living on-campus starts to look unrealistic to some BU students.

However, if student housing is as serious a problem as Allston-Brighton residents say it is, residents and their community leaders should take an active role in helping colleges create the on-campus housing plans and circumstances that will draw students out of their neighborhoods. After all, it is not cheap to build and keep up the luxurious apartments that will bring students on-campus if area residents are really committed to dealing with the problem, they must do their research and be creative.

The next city councilor, be it McDermott or Ciommo, must pay attention to their student constituents and find out what brings them into the neighborhood. If it is price, area leaders should think outside the box to find ways universities can lower the prices of dorms. If it is overly restrictive on-campus accommodations, they should pressure administrators to change on-campus policies. Area residents must move beyond simply complaining they must help institutions that may have little incentive to change their policies.

City officials should also look into legislating enrollment caps in Boston. Part of the problem with the Allston-Brighton area is simple density and a lack of area to expand supply and demand dictates elevated housing prices and a lower quality of life. Though legislative action may be too heavy-handed, local leaders should at least do some preliminary exploration of the possibility.

There is little doubt that student housing in the Allston-Brighton area negatively affects the quality of life for area residents and drives up rents. BU should be commended for its leadership in efforts to draw students out of the neighborhoods and back on-campus. But while area colleges do have a responsibility to help take care of the problem, area residents who really see it as a major problem must also take an active role in helping BC, Harvard and BU take strides toward as much attractive on-campus student housing as possible.