It’s just over a week until the November 5 election day during which either Marty Walsh or John Connolly will emerge to replace incumbent Tom Menino to become the next Boston mayor. Plenty of issues surrounding the race have been discussed, as have possible solutions, ranging from eye-catching contributions to negative campaigning but little discussion has taken place on how the next Boston mayor will approach affordable housing in relation to the thousands of college students living in and around the city.
Both candidates are inclined to make housing affordable for residents and both are poised to reorganize Boston’s development structure. But little attention has been given to 27,000 students living off-campus in Boston and how they affect the market. Jumpshell, a Boston-based real estate startup that lets users find roommates, apartments, and sublets with people you already know, recently published an ebook that explores just that; how Boston housing is directly tied to campus housing and how Walsh and Connolly both perceive the issue.
“I think the purpose of the book was to give students the opportunity to realize how important campus housing is from a macro-persepctive,” Jumpshell co-founder and COO Raleigh Werner told BostInno about how the ebook was conceived.
The document makes note of current-Mayor Tom Menino’s housing initiative which aims to build 30,000 units of living space in Boston by the year 2020, including on-campus housing to relieve the pressure put on the market by students looking for alternative options. Such a move would even the playing field for middle- and lower-income families who compete with these students for living space.
But it also compares creating additional campus housing to micro-apartments, housing them under the same umbrella as means of spreading affordable housing. At an event hosted by BostInno last week, Marty Walsh scoffed at the idea of micro-unites, saying sarcastically, “Micro-apartments are a good idea, I guess.” But it turns out they are a good idea. The only issue is, as noted by Werner, “There’s not a lot of literature or conversation out there.”
Tonight marks the final debate between the two and perhaps a last attempt at driving this issue to the forefront of both campaigns is possible on either’s part. But with Connolly tying most items to his educational agenda and Walsh’s regional approach to the race, it’s likely neither candidate will broach the subject. If they do, Werner hopes they touch on a few things.
“I would love to hear more about co-developments,” he said when asked what candidates should discuss more of. Co-developments, per Menino’s housing plan, allow for outside developers to build dorms and lease them back to the colleges. “My Only concern is that this isn’t really compelling to developers in terms of getting them on board.” In order for co-developments to be attractive to students, they’d need to be market rate or lower — whereas developers want to see their developments have more lucrative returns. Enter next Boston mayor.
As is the case with both Walsh and Connolly on most issues and future policy, their respective stances are near identical in that they’ll both explore partnerships with Boston and local higher-education institutions to relieve this pressure. But Connolly has made it more of a point to stress the importance of finding housing for graduate students as opposed to just undergrads. Either way, it appears that Boston is on the brink of a housing augmentation to the benefit of students and regular citizens alike.
