By Naomi Hofferber
The City Council liaison for the University of Iowa Student Government brought the issue of student housing before the council Tuesday, saying the city has an obligation to assist in providing housing for UI students.
“It is the university’s responsibility, but it would be impossible for the university to do it on its own, because the land allocation that we have is far too small to build enough student housing,” liaison Jacob Simpson said.
The average UI student spends $9,728 on room and board — 20 percent more than what is spent on tuition and fees, Simpson said.
Councilor John Thomas said that several factors go into solving the problem of affordable student housing in the community.
“[One], the housing of students, who represent over 40 percent of the population of Iowa City, are a very important constituency and part of the community,” Thomas said. “And two, how do we effectively manage the relationship of the student housing to the larger demographic of Iowa City.”
Councilor Susan Mims argued the issue needed to be addressed by the UI.
“You look at the number of housing units the University of Iowa net number that they have now versus what they had 10 or 15 years ago versus what Iowa State has done,” she said. “You also look at changes in enrollment; it’s my understanding that the University of Iowa is significantly behind what Iowa State has done in terms of increasing dormitory space for its students.”
Mayor Jim Throgmorton said he has talked with UI President Bruce Harreld about finding a way to accurately assess student housing needs. Throgmorton also brought up three goals in tackling affordable housing.
“One goal I think should be to increase the supply of housing that is affordable for lower-income residents,” he said. “The second would be to improve the overall affordability of housing in Iowa City, and the third would be to achieve better socioeconomic balance in our neighborhoods and elementary schools.”
Simpson noted several challenges to housing.
“People are attached to the idea of what Iowa City used to be, which is historic housing, single family residences; if you walk around this neighborhood you see what used to be single family homes now are rental housing,” he said. “I think they’re very degraded. And there’s all these zones in this area that are historical preservation zones, so they don’t allow for redevelopment, even though houses need to be redeveloped.”
Simpson said he believes the role of the city in student housing is to open up zones for development, and allow student housing to be built.
“I think particularly if you talk about using tax dollars for student housing — and I totally agree [students] are a huge and important part of this community; the university also has a certain responsibility there,” Mims said.
