In the basement of Harvard Square’s University Lutheran Church — which operates as an emergency winter homeless shelter — the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) unveiled a report Tuesday afternoon showing students’ dramatic impact on the Boston housing market. “Universities bring over 250,000 students to the Boston area, but only house 110,000 of them,” says GBIO organizer Ari Lipman. “That leaves 140,000 to flood the Boston housing market.” The presence of students — who are often willing to sleep several to a bedroom — has driven up rents by as much as $150 per month in Allston-Brighton and $225 per month in Mission Hill.

A crowd of more than 60 community activists, church members, and elected officials was on hand for the event. Cambridge mayor Anthony Galluccio and Boston city councilor Mike Ross of the Fenway spoke. Cambridge city councilor Ken Reeves and Boston councilors-at-large Stephen Murphy and Michael Flaherty, as well as Councilor Brian Honan of Allston-Brighton, also attended.

The GBIO’s report called for universities to provide at least 7500 new dorm beds over the next five years, but councilors also had their own suggestions. “You see the endowments of the major institutions,” said Murphy. “We can ask them, ‘Why don’t you contribute $500 per student that you don’t house, and donate it so that CDCs [community-development corporations] and community groups can start housing them now?’”

Galluccio suggested that community opposition to the construction of new dormitories might ease if the universities get creative; he proposed, for instance, mixed housing for graduate students and neighborhood residents. “It’s a lot easier to get support when you reach out to neighborhood families who need housing, too,” he said. But Flaherty’s comments drew what was perhaps the most enthusiastic response from the Harvard-and-BU-heavy crowd. “Just a suggestion,” he said. “The universities that have housing on campus should make that housing attractive.”

Issue Date: April 26 - May 3, 2001