Sixty-seven percent of students enrolled in Boston’s colleges and universities live off-campus, according to a new report, Student Housing Trends: 2014-2015, released today by the city.
The Walsh administration plans to use the data to address three key student housing priorities for 2015: end the illegal practice of renting off-campus housing to five or more undergraduates; establish firm commitments and deadlines for the construction of additional on-campus dormitory beds from each college and university; and create pathways for private developers to build off-campus dormitories that meet specific community approvals.
“It is critical that we work with our colleges and universities to better understand how to provide safe and affordable housing for both our student population and our residents,” Walsh said in a statement. “Our institutions of higher education make up the fabric of our city.”
According to the report, of the 148,000 students enrolled in Boston’s colleges and universities, 46,763 (32 percent) live on campus and 99,869 (67 percent) live off-campus. Of the students living off-campus, 38,232 (38 percent) live in the city of Boston, while 61,637 (62 percent) live in other Greater Boston communities.
The number of undergrads living off campus, 21,425, has declined by 1,442 compared with fall 2013, among schools that reported data in 2013 and 2014. A total of 1,395 new dormitory beds came online in 2014, bringing the number of dormitory beds to 39,178 citywide, according to the report. There are currently 984 dorm beds under construction or soon to be under construction and 902 beds are expected to receive approval and commence construction in the near future, according to the report.
Based on current data, 3,500 students who do not live on campus live at home and another 874 live in university-affiliated or managed housing, leaving nearly 17,100 undergraduate students living in units in the private rental market. More than half of Boston’s off-campus student population lives in properties of three units or fewer, properties that were originally built for the city’s workforce, and condominiums, which were intended to be owner-occupied housing.
There are more than 300 students in each neighborhood in the city, apart from Charlestown, according to the report. Undergraduates have proportionally higher concentrations in Fenway/Kenmore, Uphams Corner, Mission Hill and the Longwood Medical Area, while graduate students tend to be concentrated in Allston and Brighton, according to the report. Allston/Brighton has the highest concentration of off-campus students, with 6,486 total students reported, 44 percent of whom are undergraduates. Undergraduates make up 64 percent of the students in Fenway/Kenmore, while in Jamaica Plain, which includes Mission Hill, 59 percent of students are undergraduates.
Walsh called for the creation of 18,500 new dorm beds by the year 2030 in order to return 5,000 units of workforce housing to the market as part of his housing plan released last year.
Student Housing Trends: 2014-2015 was an inter-agency collaboration between the city of Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development, Inspectional Services Department and the Boston Redevelopment Authority. The data gathered from the results of the University Accountability Ordinance, passed by the Boston City Council last summer.
