Affordable housing is a luxury for students in Chapel Hill — especially with the town’s housing occupancy limit. The town should restructure the housing occupancy limit of its Land Use Management Ordinance.
A revision that raises the number of unrelated people allowed to live in a house could better protect affordability and cater to the large student population.
The town of Chapel Hill considers it a violation when more than four unrelated people occupy homes that are built and zoned as single family or two family dwelling units.
The high cost of rent encourages students to live together, usually many times more than the four-person town limit.
While students should respect town laws, living with more than four people usually makes sense.
First, housing arrangements with more than four people drive down rental costs, which helps budget-crunching students.
Also, plenty of houses around the University have more than four bedrooms. It is illogical for a group of four people to rent a six-bedroom house, although this is what the ordinance requires.
Landlords can work around the four-person limit by only writing four names on the lease. The other occupants pay for rent, but if occupants are found in violation of the ordinance, it could lead to displacement, fines and additional approvals and inspections for the homes.
Instead of displacing occupants who exceed the four-person limit, the town should force students, and landlords, to pay a small additional fee to the community for each additional occupant. This is a more sound solution than evicting students.
