Since the March 12 passing of a new City of Boston zoning ordinance, students may need to rethink their off-campus living situations. The regulation, effective immediately, changes the definition of 'family' to exclude a group of five or more "full-time undergraduate students at a postsecondary educational institution" from being considered a family.
This stipulation adds another layer to the zoning codes by which landlords must abide, and affects many of the Brighton area residences where groups of students larger than four traditionally rent. Students and administrators speculate that limiting the number of students in a dwelling will further disperse student dwellings in the surrounding neighborhood.
Proposed by City Councilor Michael Ross, the law will affect not only Boston College students, but all undergraduates living in the City of Boston. Michelle Snyder, a legislative aid to Ross, said the new ordinance was proposed in response to rising rent prices and tax rates in Boston neighborhoods.
Boston's housing market turned speculative after the Sang Vo case of 2003, which undid previous legislation limiting the number of unrelated individuals able to rent in a boarding house. "Landlords bought family houses to convert them into student housing with five, six, seven bedrooms," she said.
The result was not only an increase in property taxes for families, which are re-assessed periodically based on local real estate sales, but an increase in rent rates. "Because landlords can charge students a lot, housing became unaffordable to families," Snyder said. This law, which pertains to the definition of family, applies to single-, double-, and multi-family homes, not boarding houses.
Some conjecture that the law is discriminatory, unfairly targeting undergraduate students while leaving graduate students, recent graduates, or even students in the 18-22-year age group not enrolled in school, free to rent in any size group. "Our understanding is that the ordinance will be challenged by attorneys for local landlords who feel that the provision may be unconstitutional," said University Spokesman Jack Dunn.
But Howard Levine, a BC law professor and attorney who specializes in municipal law, said that the law would likely be upheld. Massachusetts, he said, is a "home rule state," which means that unless a statute specifically states or clearly implies that a local community cannot enact an ordinance, then the community is entitled to pass that ordinance.
"Only in cases where a local ordinance or bylaw is deemed repugnant or contradictory to, or frustrates the purpose of a state or constitutional measure, would there be a violation of home rule," he said.
A community can pass any ordinance in the interest of public welfare and safety, Levine said. "If they feel that this is challenged by the presence of students, and that this is necessary to maintain the integrity of a community, then they have a strong right to do that."
Further, Levine said that because students are not a protected class of individuals garnering special safeguards against discrimination, the law's specification of "undergraduate students" is not unreasonable. "It is narrowly tailored enough not to be discriminatory," he said.
Levine also pointed to an existing Newton ordinance that is similarly restrictive, in that it limits the number of unrelated individuals living together who are 18 and older to no more than four.
Snyder cited a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court case, Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, for justification that legislation can be passed regarding zoning laws as related to students. She said that the City Council also consulted Greater Boston Legal Services during the formation of the ordinance.
Enforcement of the law falls to Boston's Inspectional Services Department (ISD) and will be dealt with in the same manner that other codes and regulations are enforced, said Lisa Timberlake, a spokesperson for the ISD. "If we receive a complaint or someone calls and requests an inspection, we will follow up," she said. The ISD does not knock on doors proactively to initiate inspections.
"We want to reiterate to our students that our understanding is that the police or the ISD would only get involved if student behavior caused them to be inspected," Dunn said.
While responsibility of adhering to this ordinance lies with the landlords who rent to students, students need also to be aware of the effects this new regulation has on their leases. "Students have no affirmative duty to disclose the information that they are students," Levine said. But he added that the change constitutes an invalidation of signed contracts, which means that students who have entered into leases that violate this law should be advised to renegotiate.
"There will likely be a transition period of enforcement," he said, offering leeway to students dwelling in unlawful residences. They will not be forced out immediately, if found by the ISD, but will most likely be issued a period of time to find a suitable alternative. It is incumbent on the landlord not only to follow the city's regulations, but also to notify students that they need to move out, he said.
Timberlake said that the new ordinance will be handled just as all landlord-tenant relations are handled, and that illegal occupancy is not made legal just because of a contractual agreement signed before the law was passed.
Administrators at BC said that they will continue to offer services to students whose moves off campus might have been complicated by this new ordinance. "We are working on consolidating our off-campus resources to better serve our students off campus," said Interim Dean for Student Development Paul Chebator. "We have a hotline e-mail address where students can send questions about safety issues and landlords, a comprehensive off-campus guide, and we are continuing to work on an off-campus Web site and newsletter."
The first newsletter, which will be a twice-a-semester feature, will circulate at the end of this week or early next week, Chebator said. It contains information on recent Boston Police Department notices among other important BC communications. "We are also working on designating a person to act as a resource between the community and BC, to visit areas where students live and get to know the residences to prevent any problems that might arise," Chebator said.
The residence hall development provisions of BC's Master Plan will also help resolve off-campus tensions. "The University is working diligently to add more housing to the Master Plan that will help alleviate the need for students to live off campus," Dunn said.
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