COMMENTARY: College and City Avoid Responsibility for Student Housing Slums

Students and College of William & Mary report expensive rents for dilapidated housing, fear reporting issues

A house near the campus of The College of William and Mary displays a flag with the College’s traditional cipher. (Photo Credit: George Arbogust)

Students at the College of William and Mary face a multitude of challenges securing housing and often wind up living in slum-like conditions, according to a recent report in The Flat Hat, the College’s student newspaper.

The authors of the article present an often bleak picture of off-campus housing conditions — for which neither the school or the city take responsibility. Meanwhile, local college housing slumlords seem happy to profit from record high rents and still let tenants live in sub-standard conditions.