Proposal
Improving off-campus housing at Ohio University is becoming very important. Almost everyone at OU is familiar with the outrageous costs of living off-campus, mostly due to the shortage of off-campus housing. Most of the houses off campus are also deteriorating. I propose that the city of Athens enforce codes that will require landlords to maintain their houses and apartments. I also propose the expansion of more off-campus houses or more residence halls for upper class students.
Most of the houses around Athens are in desperate need of being re-sided, re-painted, or remodeled completely. With the rent that landlords are charging, renovations like these can be easily afforded. Instead, that money is being used to buy more run-down places and charge more students ridiculous amounts of money to rent them out. The city of Athens should hire people to inspect the houses around the city. They should find things that need to get fixed and fine the landlords if they don’t. Part of the problem may be that many of the landlords around Athens are on City Council or have high power positions within the city. When students do complain, landlords know that students will leave in four years and forget about the problem.
These deteriorating houses not only hurt the image of Athens and Ohio University, but they can also be dangerous to the students renting them. Not only are a lot of the houses around Athens deteriorating on the outside, but also on the interior, including problems with plumbing, electrical, heating, and drywall. Dating back to the pre-drywall days, most of the houses are constructed with plaster and lathe boards. The wiring is insulated in a cloth material that has rotted away, exposing live wires and creating a serious fire hazard. This winter many have water pipes freezing. Granted it has been a cold winter, but these pipes should be insulated. When pipes burst, often students are forced to pay a high water bill. Also some students are paying up to $400 plus in heating bills. The bills are so high because inadequate windows and doors let in cold air and let out the warm air. Landlords don’t care how much their tenants are paying for heat because they don’t pay the bills themselves, so they have no motivation to provide more efficient storm windows and storm doors. Since students can’t make these renovations to the house themselves, they are stuck paying high heating costs until they move out. I even know people who have had no heat in this bitter winter for almost four weeks before their landlord did anything about it. Tenants should not have to pay high costs to live in off-campus housing and be treated like this.
I propose that off-campus be expanded. Perhaps the University would be willing to put up some funds for expansion. This could benefit the University by attracting more students to the campus. I realize the lack of land close to the University is a big factor, but perhaps an efficient shuttle system would make students feel comfortable living a little further away from campus. Also the expansion and remodeling of existing houses can expand 4 to 5 bedroom houses to 9 to 10 bedroom houses, using the space that is available efficiently. The University should also look into expanding residence halls and attract more upperclassmen. The University could benefit from the profits they’ll receive and upperclassmen will have more selection. Most upperclassmen want nothing to do with the dorms when they reach their junior year, so the University should try to make something that appeals to these students to attract them to the residence halls-- maybe by adding a swimming pool, game room, or a weight and fitness room.
With these improvements to off-campus housing, we can make Athens a much better place to live and Ohio University a much better school to attend. Students are always going to pay high prices for their off-campus housing, but I think they should at least get a place that is reliable, efficient, and safe to live in. With these improvements I feel that this will happen.