When interviewing members from city governments across different college towns, it was clear that there were differences in how students interact with city government, and the way in which city councils function. But one overarching shared problem across the towns was on housing crises.

Jesse Arreguin, recent Cal grad and Jason Overman, fifth year who ran for city council in 2006, both expressed that as members of the Rent Stabilization Board, they are able to work with both student and non-student residents over the need for affordable housing.

“Rents are very high, not enough student housing, co-op housing and affordable housing is an issue for the broader community,” Arreguin said.

Similarly, north of Berkeley in Davis, 29 year-old councilmember Lamar Heystek said in 2004, he addressed renters’ rights. Heystek said most, if not all, UC Davis students are renters. But students aren’t the only ones affected in the community. He worked with senior citizens in getting their rent increases addressed as well.

Fly across the country to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where students and city officials interacted closely to address landlord-tenet issues. About three years ago, students, particularly freshmen, were pressured to sign a lease for the next year, just weeks after they moved in. Landlords pushed this on residents as the competition for housing among upperclassmen and other residents of the city is high, said Kyle Goszyk, former external relations chair for the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor’s student assembly.

The city council and students worked closely in the student relations committee to finally alleviate the pressure by noting that landlords can only give the lease notice for the next year 90 days after signing their first lease for that year.

“I don’t think there was any other way to getting this alleviation without the involvement of the committee,” Goszyk said.

In the end, despite the distance and different functioning processes of city governments, housing crises in the form of high rents and unfair landlords are student and non-student problems college towns face. But in two ways, solutions can be found: by recognizing that there are commonalities among each unique city across the U.S. and further, by recognizing that solutions can only be found by students working with the community and city government at large.

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