Alders laud the initiative, saying it promotes diversityCiting diversity, stability and an interest in retaining housing quality, city officials furthered an initiative to begin converting several near-campus neighborhoods from student-occupied to owner-occupied residencies.
The City of Madison Housing Committee convened on Wednesday to advance the plan.
According to Jeanne Hoffmann, land use and transportation liaison for the city of Madison, the initiative was developed in hopes that large employers in the downtown area would be able to attract workers to live close to where they work. The two neighborhoods currently being looked at for conversion are the Greenbush and Vilas areas because of their close proximity to the campus and hospitals.
Both Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, and Ald. Austin King, District 8, emphasized that this initiative is not supposed to be a gentrification of student housing areas. It is just a response to the natural trend of students moving closer to campus.
This shouldn't be seen as a negative action against students,\ said Verveer. ""We don't want to price students out of the neighborhood.""
Verveer stressed that a major benefit of the conversions would be greater diversity and stability in these neighborhoods. Residents who plan on living in an area for a longer period of time tend to show more interest in their neighborhood than transient residents, such as students.
According to Verveer, other areas including the Bassett neighborhood have seen an increase in owner-occupied homes, but still maintain a high number of student-residents as well.
King said many homes in these areas have been ""treated poorly by absentee landlords."" Residents who choose to live in these homes would need the financial means to repair some of the neglected properties.
Hoffman said other universities have had to purchase property surrounding their campuses because the homes were in such disrepair that no one would live in them. However, this is not the case with Madison. Residencies in these downtown areas only need minor repairs and conversions to make them suitable for owner-occupants.
The relatively high value of houses in these areas means that they would not be available to all employees who wish to live and work in the downtown area. ""People that purchase these homes will have modest to upper incomes,"" Hoffman said.
The initiative is still in early planning stages. The next step is to determine the financial feasibility of converting the homes. According to Hoffman, this would involve meeting with bankers, realtors and employers to determine which, if any, groups of employees would be able to live in these downtown areas.
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