In Their Own Words: City Council housing debate impacts students

The City Council is set to vote on an amendment to the Housing Code today. Proposed by senior housing inspector Stan Laverman in order to foster “healthy, vibrant neighborhoods,” the rental cap would cease the issuing of new rental permits in designated areas. We asked UI students, “How do you feel about a possible IC Housing Code amendment that would limit rental properties in certain areas, including downtown?”

December 5, 2017

The Iowa City City Council discusses council business during a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2017. the council unanimously passed a measure making rent abatement easier in situations where landlords violate housing code. (Nick Rohlman/The Daily Iowan)

Amy Bettman

UI freshman

“I think it’s a bad idea because, especially at night when people are trying to walk back from classes or just from downtown, it makes it a not safe environment, and you hear about a lot of dangerous activities during the night, so it would be a bad idea.”

Brooke Drzewiecki

UI freshman

“It’s a bad idea, because it’s important for a lot of students to be close to campus to get to their classes on time as well as get more sleep.”

Hannah Langenfeld

UI senior

“I currently live really close to campus so I enjoy not having to drive anywhere and pay for parking. And second, if students have to live in more residential areas, there’s going to be more conflicts between parents and teachers who live in those areas with students because students tend to be more rowdy and loud, and so that could just cause more problems than needed.”

Dani Lipman

UI junior

“I do agree that it’d be very stressful and intense on the residential areas with regular families living there with the students. I don’t really know if there is a huge number of students who already live in the downtown area just because it is pretty expensive as is, so I don’t know how much of a change it would make on the current population population of students living downtown.”

Tyler Luppino

UI freshman

“I think it’d be a bad idea, because students need to live close to be able to commute to their classes on the Pentacrest and such, and limiting that would result in more people ditching out on class, so I think it’s a bad idea.”