After writing an guest column a few weeks ago about the problem of single family to student rental conversions, I had a lengthy discussion with the head of zoning in State College, Pennsylvania.
He was very generous with his time, we spoke for nearly an hour, and he ended up sending 18 pages of regulations that pertain to the problem. Fifty years ago, Penn State had the same number of students enrolled as UMass does now, so State College has had a couple decade’s head start on Amherst dealing with the problem. That community has had time to research the problem and try various solutions. Among them:
Once the point total reaches a certain number for the owner or management company, their rental permit(s) is (are) suspended, first for six months, then two years, then five, for repeated violations. This is strong incentive for owners to maintain and regulate what goes on in their properties.
■ But the single most powerful tool State College implemented was a zoning regulation change: to codify the distance between student rentals, effectively limiting their density. When it was instituted, existing properties were grandfathered in, but for new conversions, or transfers of ownership, the regulations specify that a new student single-family or duplex unit cannot be closer than approximately 700-750 feet to an existing student rental, as measured between closest lot lines. This has virtually stopped single-family and duplex conversions, and is allowing some “claw back” of housing stock.
The steeply rising cost of single-family starter homes in Amherst is being driven in large part by investors trying to cash in by buying would-be starter homes and renting to students.
Any solution to Amherst’s housing affordability must include solutions to this problem, and those solutions are not arcane. They do not need years of committee research or dithering debate. They need a will to act.
John Varner
Amherst
