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
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.
Below are 3 key takeaways from this excellent piece of student reporting.
1. The College must accept responsibility for their students’ living conditions, on and off campus.
In the article, school administrators point out they have no authority over students’ private rental agreements, or the condition of off-campus housing. Though this may be true, the school must still accept some responsibility since its inability to guarantee housing frequently puts students in precarious situations.
Perhaps it’s just bad timing that the school actively reduced bed inventory in the midst of a national housing shortage — one that’s felt even more acutely locally. Even so, students have been left to fend for themselves and are feeling the crunch from the decision.
Without any guaranteed housing from the College, students often resort to breaking the law meant to limit the number of unrelated people who can live together to only three residents. The authors rightly point out that the practice creates a situation ripe for mistreatment by college housing slumlords. While counting on the school’s hands-off attitude towards off-campus rental units, students are caught in a no-win situation in terms of reporting issues. They fear being caught breaking the tenant law and the terms of their lease, so they stay silent about unacceptable living conditions.
Keep in mind these are young adults away from home for the first time. Many are unaware of their rights and responsibilities. It’s time the College starts to use its influence to ensure students don’t continue to find themselves stuck in exploitive situations.
2. Instead of appeasing local college housing slumlords, the City should ramp up code enforcement.
The city should focus on code enforcement rather than a new program they’re touting as “Rent Ready” meant to entice student housing slumlords to improve their properties by letting them legally rent to more than 3 people. How this new program is going to change the behavior of property owners who knowingly rent over-crowded slums in order to maximize profit remains to be seen. Seems like the missing component is the teeth of actual enforcement. My guess is ramped up fines and legal proceedings are the only way of improving the behavior of the city’s negligent student housing slum lords.
After all, this is a city that spends massive amounts of time focused on enforcing aesthetic codes through entities such as the Architectural Review Board. As a government entity, the Board has the legal authority to fine property owners and even go so far as to force the removal of items such as windows and doors that don’t conform to approved standards. To me, students living without sufficient heat or functioning plumbing and amidst infestations of various vermin seems to be just as important if someone chose an appropriate color from the pre-approved palette.
3. How many beds does the College actually need? It depends who you ask …
In the article, students describe a mad scramble each year to secure housing while College administrators dismiss student housing shortages as temporary pain, pointing to ongoing and planned construction to replace and renovate many old dorms. Though the project is expected to last well past 2030, administrators concede that ultimately, not a single new bed is expected to be added to the current inventory of 5000 or so.
The decision to keep the total amount of beds steady seems bolstered by a national trend dubbed the enrollment cliff. If the school’s own prediction of a downward trend in enrollment proves accurate, there will be significantly fewer undergraduate students on campus for the 2026 school year (6594) than there were in 2023 (6949).
Yet, there’s reason to be skeptical such a downward trend will be allowed to continue at William and Mary. Just five years ago, the Board of Visitors’ issued a mandate to grow the undergraduate student body to nearly 6900 by Fall 2025. Current analysis from College anticipates falling short of this goal by over 300 students. In response, it’s possible the Board of Visitors doubles down on aggressive enrollment growth — and leaves the school permanently behind the curve in student housing for decades.
(Update: 1-6-25 The headline was updated to clearly label the piece as commentary.)
George Arbogust is Founder and Editor of the Williamsburg Independent. He lives in Williamsburg near the College.