After the recent death of a Tufts University student in a fire in off-campus housing, students, legislators and administrators are wary of potential dangers involved with poor conditions outside of the college campus.
On Jan. 18, Wendy Carman, a 20-year-old junior from Tacoma, Wash., was killed in a fire at her makeshift loft above a garage on Harris Road.
Carman’s apartment was not fit for living, according to a Jan. 22 article in The Boston Globe. The space had only one exit and lacked windows as well as a fireproofing system on the garage’s ceiling and walls. A ladder provided the only way out of the wood-frame building.
Meanwhile, all over Allston-Brighton, Mission Hill, Beacon Hill, Somerville and Medford, students are packed into living spaces that, according to the Globe, Mayor Thomas M. Menino called a disgrace.
Though she does not worry about fires, Anne Sheridan, a sophomore in the College of General Studies living off-campus, said she faces other hazards.
‘We feel fairly safe,’ she said. ‘The only complaint is that there are no bars on the windows of our bedroom that faces Commonwealth Avenue. We live on the first floor and worry about break-ins.’
Allston-Brighton City Councilor Jerry McDermott said the amount of breaking and entering incidents has gone up this year in the area. In addition, he said, the levels in the police force that he was hoping to see increase was actually negatively affected by the recent budget cuts.
‘Because of the blooming budget cuts we don’t have the manpower,’ McDermott said. ‘Campus police must make themselves visible people should enjoy the night life of this area. My biggest advice is to buddy up; don’t walk around at night alone.’
Maureen White, a Fenway Community Development Corporation project organizer and recent Boston University graduate, said safety issues off-campus would not need to be addressed if universities in the Boston area provided adequate housing.
‘It’s not the students’ fault for wanting to live off-campus, it’s the universities’ fault for not keeping them on campus,’ White said. ‘Kids want to live without things like strict guest policies, and the universities should listen to their needs. The way it is now, landlords jack up prices and they get away with it.’
Apartments appealing to students might otherwise be rented to low-income families, but landlords increase the rent since most students’ receive help from their parents, White said. Landlords get more money and families in Boston experience a shortage of affordable housing.
McDermott admitted it will take a long time to surmount the many problems with off-campus housing. For now, he said, students should take precautions to stay safe.
‘It’s not New York, but it is still a city,’ said McDermott. ‘People let their guards down. We must remember that we are in Boston.’
Tufts’ housing system cannot accommodate the size of the university’s student body, so many young people are forced off-campus. The Globe stated that there are only 3,300 beds on campus with an undergraduate enrollment of 4,500.
Although Tufts cannot assure living space for all of its students, LeMoult said it does more than other universities experiencing housing crises in Boston.
‘Tufts works very hard to provide students with information so they can make an informed decision as to off-campus housing,’ said LeMoult.
Tufts has an Office of Off-Campus Housing dedicated to assisting students with their off-campus housing search. Services include a guide on inspecting property and a housing checklist that helps students assess apartments’ general safety, fire safety, wiring, ventilation and structural maintenance. Northeastern and BU are both continuing on-campus housing projects to alleviate the problem, and Tufts is planning to build a dormitory in Wendy Carman’s memory.
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