November 2, 2023 - Fall Housing Guide

The University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper

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FALL 2023 Housing guide

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Table of contents

CONTENTS 3 - Short-term rentals 5 - Attick towers 4 - Confirmation rate 7 - Heat Wave Founded 1910, independent since 1971.

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Rentals

College Park City Council expresses support for short-term rental regulation

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By Eden Binder | Staff Writer College Park could soon see more restrictions on short-term rentals after College Park City Council members expressed concerns about current regulations on Tuesday.

College Park currently regulates short-term and long-term rental properties the same way, with no limit to the number of days per year properties can be rented. But during Tuesday’s meeting, council members discussed proposed laws that would put stricter restrictions on short-term rentals like Airbnbs in the city, standardizing city regulations with Prince George’s County’s.

In 2018, the Prince George’s County Council passed legislation to tax short-term rentals. The same legislation prevents residents from renting out properties for more than 30 consecutive days on platforms such as Airbnb.

According to Suellen Ferguson, College Park’s city attorney, the proposed city laws on shortterm rentals would be consistent with Prince George’s County laws.

The city is also looking to model part of its proposed regulations after a Montgomery County law that gives neighbors within 300 feet of a house the ability to object an application for that house to become a short-term rental. “[It] allows someone who is within a certain distance of that house to object to any of the factual certifications that are being made by the owner or the host,” Ferguson said. “It gives the residents in that area a little more input.”

College Park doesn’t require registration for short-term rentals, instead relying on county

records. Bob Ryan, College Park’s public service director, said this means city officials aren’t sure how many short-term rental properties there are in the city.

In April, the council expressed interest in collecting more information on the number of shortterm rentals in the city.

District 3 council member John Rigg said he supports the idea of stricter regulations given the city’s lack of knowledge on who owns these properties.

“They’re relatively modest in terms of size and numbers in College Park,” Rigg said. “ I worry that if there’s growth in this particular sector and we don’t use this opportunity to get a handle on that particular element then we could be in some trouble.”

The proposed regulations could create a streamlined process for dealing with unregistered rentals in College Park. According to Ryan, the city relies on residents to report suspected unregistered short-term rental properties.

The process of bringing an unregistered house’s owner to court can often take months, Ryan said.

University of Maryland students and others who sublet College Park apartments over academic breaks may have

Members Of the College Park City Council during a meeting on Sept. 26, 2023. (Giuseppe LoPiccolo/the

diamondback)

their properties viewed as short-term rentals if the new laws are instituted, according to Ferguson.

“If they’re running it as a short rental for 10 days at a time then it becomes a short-term rental,” said Ferguson. “Otherwise it’s going to be considered a standard rental.”

Current flaws in the system have prompted concerns that council members are hoping more stringent standards will remedy.

When a short-term rental changes owners, the city requires a new rental occupancy permit, Ryan said. But District 4 council member Denise Mitchell said she knows of properties that are not in compliance with this guideline.

“If we’re stating here that they have to acquire a new permit, I think that we need to do some due diligence and research,” Mitchell said.

If the new regulations are proposed as an ordinance at a future council meeting, council members could vote to make them city law.

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confirmation rate

High confirmation rate for incoming UMD freshmen spurs housing stress among students

By Fiona Roy I Staff Writer

University of Maryland students faced uncertainty this summer amid concerns that the school’s resident life department would not be able to provide enough housing for a flood of applicants.

In June, this university’s resident life department sent an email saying it has experienced a notable increase in on-campus housing requests. Since then, the department has been able to accommodate every first-year student who applied for housing by the May 1 deadline, according to a university spokesperson. The department also offered housing in residence halls to all of the incoming freshmen on the on-campus housing waitlist, the spokesperson said.

But some incoming students at this university said even though they were able to secure their housing, the higher-than-expected confirmation rate that this university said it had — and the housing uncertainty it caused — was stressful.

Freshman international business and marketing major Arden Lawson was frustrated when he and other incoming students had to grapple with the possibility that their housing may be compromised.

“I think people were really kind of frustrated, like it was not fair to them,” Lawson said.

Approximately 9,600 undergraduate students live in the 39 dorms on campus, and another 2,900 students live in public-private partnership apartment communities like South Campus Commons and Courtyards, according to Resident Life.

“We saw increased interest from both returning residents and incoming first-year students for on-campus housing this year,” the university spokesperson wrote in an email to The Diamondback.

Compared to last year, the department received about 1,200 more applications for housing and dining. The applications were equally split between incoming and returning students, according to the spokesperson.

Madeline Odom said she thinks that in the future, this university should not accept more students than it can accommodate in its freshman class so as to avoid housing capacity problems.

“It’s disrespectful to the freshman class because living in a dorm or living on-campus, that’s a great way to meet people and make new friends,” the incoming freshman criminology and criminal justice major said. “If I was living off campus, not knowing people, I would feel extremely isolated from the rest of the freshman class.”

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In previous years, when the demand for on-campus housing was higher than the available capacity, Resident Life created “flex spaces” — double and triple rooms adapted to accommodate an extra resident — and temporary living solutions by converting dorm lounges into rooms.

There were three converted lounge spaces in fall 2014, one in fall 2016 and 42 in fall 2018, according to previous reporting by The Diamondback.

To avoid further use of converted dorms, cut down use of flex spaces and further prioritize providing incoming freshmen on-campus housing, more limits have been placed on housing availability for third, fourth and fifth year students since then.

Safiyah Fatima, an incoming freshman computer engineering major, said that if she had not gotten on-campus housing, she was considering commuting to this university from her house, which is about an hour away and out of state. Living in an off-campus residence or apartment complex would have cost too much, she said.

“Because of increasing housing prices it’s harder to find affordable housing on or off of campus,” Fatima said. “For out of state students who can’t travel and commute, it’s even more of an issue.”

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attick towers

College Park aging public housing facility calls for nearly $20 million for renovations

By Katharine Wilson I Staff Writer College Park community members are hoping to raise nearly $20 million for an overhaul renovation of Attick Towers — an aging, low-income public housing building.

Attick Towers, an affordable apartment building for senior citizens and people with disabilities in College Park, was built in 1968 and opened in 1972. Since its completion, the building has seen little to no renovations, according to Robert Catlin, a board member for the Housing Authority of the City of College Park. The city’s Housing Authority manages the Attick Towers complex.

“Much of the bones and structure of the building have not been updated since then,” Catlin said. “We have a lot of problems, especially over the last five to 10 years with everything aging out.”

The high-rise offers more than 100 apartments for typically 30 percent of the resident’s income, averaging out to just below $400 a month for each apartment, according to Catlin.

Some residents said the current state of the apartment complex leaves a lot to be desired for the complex’s senior community.

“The building is old and it does need extra work,” one nearly 14-year senior Attick Towers resident, who wished to remain anonymous for their privacy, told The Diamondback. “Everybody’s just plugging along and we’re all hanging in there but still, sometimes you get frustrated. But it is what it is and we’re doing the best we can.”

The resident added that they would like to see more funding for the building to complete projects including the community room, the communal women’s bathroom and a replacement for the hallway carpet.

During a 2021 city council meeting, housing authority executive director Michelle Johnson described the building conditions as “deplorable.”

Arelis Pérez, the board chair of the city housing authority, said the building needs $17 to $22 million in funding to complete all of the necessary renovations.

In 2021, the housing authority submitted a request to the city detailing the costs of each renovation, which totaled more than $16 million. But Pérez said that total cost has increased since then due to the

increasing costs of construction material and labor.

The apartment complex has faced challenges in raising enough money for the necessary renovations in recent years.

The College Park City Council dedicated $1.25 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds for Attick Towers renovations in its 2024 fiscal year budget.

According to city documents, the funds will be used to address the most immediate needs of the building, such as piping systems, elevators, cooling towers and HVAC systems.

District 2 council member Llatetra Esters said it’s important for the city to assist with the building and the residents inside.

But Esters added that it can be challenging because the Housing Authority of the City of College Park — the body that administers housing at Attick Towers — is separate from the city government.

“We don’t have primary responsibility for providing funding, yet we want to be able to assist where we can,” Esters said.

“It’s an older building that is definitely in need of some tender love and care.”

In addition to city funding, the state of Maryland designated $2 million for the housing authority to use for renovations in 2021. The housing authority has also received $615,000 from other sources such as grants.

Moving forward, the city’s housing authority hopes to build a second building on the Attick Towers property due to the long waitlist for the affordable housing option, Catlin said.

But Catlin noted that plan will be on hold until renovations for the existing building are completed.

Pérez urged city council members to be involved in the Attick Towers renovations throughout the year — not just during election time. She vowed to continue working for Attick Towers residents.

“I have such respect and care and compassion and love for these residents just because they matter,” Pérez said.

“I will continue my fight. They say that I’m trouble, but I think of myself as good trouble.”

The exterior of Attick Towers on Oct. 15, 2023. Giuseppe LoPiccolo/the diamondback

EllicotT Hall is one of the dorms on the Unversity of Maryland campus that does not have air-conditioning throughout the entire building. Read more on page 7. (Gabby Baniqued/The Diamondback)

heat wave

September heat wave leaves UMD students without AC uncomfortable

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By Sumaya Abdel-Motagaly I Staff Writer As extreme heat swept across the mid-Atlantic last week, University of Maryland students living in dorms without air conditioning said they were left in a state of discomfort, with some opting to sleep in lounges or other dorms.

“I’ve been dying slowly because it’s been so hot in my dorm.”

- Freshman Arya Gijare

“Last week during the heatwave it was really bad,” said freshman Arya Gijare, who is enrolled in letters and sciences and living in Hagerstown Hall.

During the first week of September, College Park temperatures reached the high 90s. Sept. 6 saw the hottest temperatures with 100 degrees, according to The Weather Channel.

In 2022, the highest temperature recorded in College Park in September was only 89 degrees.

This university has eight halls where individual rooms are not equipped with air conditioning: Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Chestertown, Ellicott, Hagerstown, Wicomico and Worcester.

During the heatwave, the Department of Resident Life stocked the halls’ fridges with cold water and ice pops to keep students cool, according to Tracy Kiras, the department’s associate director for assignments, communications and technology services. Residents in the halls also received multiple emails with tips on how to stay cool.

“The University of Maryland is mindful of the impacts to our community during this September heat wave,” Kiras said in a statement. “We are particularly focused on students and staff living and working in residence halls that do not have air conditioning.” “[The ice pops] actually were pretty nice to have,” freshman mechanical engineering major Paul Gomez Wick, who lives in Ellicott Hall, said. “They weren’t a complete solution, but they were a really good gesture.”

Resident Life also offered alternative sleeping arrangements by setting up mattresses for students in communal areas with air conditioning.

To cope with the heat, some students used numerous fans in their rooms and spent the majority of their days in lounges and libraries.

“For basically the entire week, I just tried to avoid being in [my room]. It was definitely frustrating.”

“I expect things will keep getting progressively warmer,” Canty said. “If you don’t have a dorm with air conditioning, that’s uncomfortable. Buildings are poorly climate controlled and they have poor air conditioning … things like that are just going to have to be factored in.”

According to university President Darryll Pines, as experts predict warmer temperatures, this university is hoping to add air conditioning to all dorms in the next few fiscal years.

“The university is working to install the appropriate hardware and software in all of our residents’ facilities so that we get to a point where all of them have some type of either central air conditioning or at least a window air conditioning.”

- President Darryll Pines

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While temperatures have cooled recently, the early September heat wave is not an isolated event, according to Timothy Canty, an associate professor in the atmospheric and oceanic science department at this university.

The recent increase in temperature is because this is an El Niño year, which generally makes Earth warmer, Canty said. But he added that as climate change intensifies, extreme weather events like heat waves will get more severe and occur more often.

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