Three housing policy students in December suggested that the city and the University of Maryland (UMD) could do more to help undergraduate tenants become better neighbors to the long-term homeowners who live near them.
The students, part of the UMD Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability Program, told the College Park City Council that students who cannot find on-campus housing have to live in nearby neighborhoods, which creates tension between temporary and permanent residents.
“The university campus can only accommodate about 20% of its current 30,000 student population for undergrads,” Frances Chen, one of the presenters, said, “leaving nearly 24,000 to find housing off campus, which is altering the supply-and-demand nature of College Park.”
Because of the high rents at local apartments, many students opt to live in single-family homes in historic neighborhoods such as Old Town, Berwyn and Lakeland, Chen said.
Chen said the average monthly rent ballooned from $850 in 2000 to $1,850 in 2020. This has caused what Chen called “studentification” of established neighborhoods, which she said can degrade a community’s quality of life.
“There has … been an issue with neighborhood degradation,” Chen said, “with many students and party houses creating a lot of trash as well as general noise complaints within neighborhoods.”
Chen and classmates Nicholas Crane and Ashna Pandya, who collaborated on the research project, recommended that the city expand an existing door-knocking program that sends code enforcement officers into neighborhoods with large student populations to explain city rules and the penalties for breaking them.
The trio also endorsed a now-defunct city program that offered rent subsidies to some students renting in College Park and suggested that the university allow alcohol consumption in designated areas on campus so students can host parties there instead of in private houses.
“We found that the most successful communities have used deep university and city cooperation to create a solution that works for both students and [homeowners] and balances affordable housing for the student population [with] enforcing city codes,” Chen said.
But Councilmember Alan Hew (District 1) said the university should take more responsibility for teaching its students how to be good neighbors.
“The university well knows that, after two years living on campus, students are expected to live off campus,” Hew said. “They’re expected to live in our community. They have not taken any responsibility in preparing the students living off campus. There is no orientation of the policies that [a student living in] the city has to be a respectful neighbor and a good Terrapin.”
Hew added that the door-knocking program is ineffective.
“I think the university needs to take a serious, dedicated role in training all students who will have to move into a community when they move off campus,” Hew said. “They need to take a big part in that because these are their students coming into our community without any heads up.”