By William Hinkle
BEACON HILL -- When Alison Gilchrist, a 21-year-old Suffolk University junior and Grove Street resident, began her housing search for next school year, she sought an apartment for her and four friends. After choosing a real estate agent, debating roommates about which apartment to choose and negotiating with their parents over the phone, the five girls found an apartment on Temple Street to lease, unaware that they would be breaking the law.
On March 12, The Boston Zoning Commission unanimously approved an amendment that limits the number of unrelated students living together to only four, forcing Gilchrist and her friends to find a new living arrangement for next semester.
While city officials said the amendment is necessary to preserve neighborhoods, Gilchrist and other students said it places an unfair burden on them. The Small Property Owner's Association, the largest rental property owner association in Massachusetts, opposes the amendment, calling it rent control.
Prior to 2003, the city had an enforceable zoning code statute that said no more than four persons related by the second degree of kinship - brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents and children only - could live together in one unit. In the 2003 court case Sang Vo v. City of Boston, the zoning code statute was invalidated and made unenforceable by the Boston Inspectional Services Department.
Michelle Snyder, an aide to City Councilor Michael Ross (who is Beacon Hill's representative on the council), said since the 2003 court case, the city has intended to amend the language of the zoning code so the statute could be enforced again.
Ross, who proposed the amendment, said it combats the deterioration of the quality of life in neighborhoods where students predominate.
"Since the statute was invalidated in 2003, the door has effectively been open for speculative landlords to buy properties and convert spaces into bedrooms in order to put more students into units and charge higher levels of rent that are unaffordable for families or long-term residents," Snyder said.
Because property tax rates in Boston are based on the most recent sale of surrounding property, residents who bought their homes many years ago, when housing prices were less expensive, and live near a home that recently sold for about $1 million are assessed at the higher value, Snyder said.
"The effect that this has had on neighborhoods has been traumatic," Snyder said. "In the last year alone, Mission Hill has lost approximately 50 families and long-term residents who could no longer afford to live there. Our language change to the zoning code was one way to address this issue, one tool if you will, in order to preserve neighborhoods."
Other cities such as Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco have zoning codes that limit residency within apartments. In Newark, Del., Bowling Green, Ohio, and Bloomsburg, Penn., student-specific language is incorporated in their occupancy statutes.