Affordable housing

4 Comments

1. 

   John Kramer

    /  January 23, 2012

   Affordable Housing: More social engineering from the sponsors of Greenbridge.

2. 

   CitizenWill

    /  January 24, 2012

   Nancy, at Saturday’s 2020 Unconference Chancellor Thorp said and avoided saying two things of interest.

   One, that if UNC was crafting the Carolina North plan now it would be insisting on more parking for student residences. Without plentiful parking, which I guess is provided by Northside’s frontyards, students aren’t interested in campus living.

   Two, Holden, in discussing campus living options, dodged the issue of price. UNC has increased the cost of living/parking on campus much faster than rental costs – especially in Northside – the last decade. As one Northside landlord recently pointed out – that economic pressure alone can account for the dramatic exodus from campus.

   Holden did get a chuckle from the audience when he asked a front-row sophomore student what she thought of extending mandated living on campus rules to her class. “No way” was her direct response.

3. 

   Terri Buckner

    /  January 24, 2012

   UNC’s Housing program is self-supporting, i.e., they must charge the real cost. Because the university is held to a higher standard of design to meet state codes such as fire protection, it costs more to build than what private developers pay.

4. 

   Nancy Oates

    /  January 24, 2012

   And the dichotomy of who wants to live on campus and who doesn’t holds a clue to some of the objections people have to having too many students in a neighborhood. My daughter and her roommate for next year, both serious students, are looking for housing — on campus. They’re scouting which dorms would be their top picks. I’d guess that students who can’t wait to live off campus may see college as a few years of freedom between living under parents’ rules and being responsible adults. Those who see the continuity between parents’ expectations and society’s probably make better neighbors.