Recently, the City Council received a “Graduate Student Housing Affordability White Paper” which identifies a strong unmet demand (3,300 students) for affordable graduate housing in College Park.
Please see the whitepaper below.
The University, the City, and the State would benefit from a significant increase in the availability of affordable graduate student housing on campus or elsewhere in the City. The University would be a more attractive option for graduate students, and the City and State would benefit from the increased likelihood these students would continue to live in the City or the State.
The paper indicates the 21st District delegation requests a one-time $50 million contribution to increasing access to affordable graduate student housing by developing new housing, acquiring existing multi-family housing, and acquiring and converting single-family homes. The first two options generally would require a subsidy (roughly $50,000 to $100,000 per bed), while the acquisition of existing single-family homes for use as affordable graduate student housing would likely not require a subsidy. The paper states that the solution would likely require a combination of approaches.
The City Council will discuss the whitepaper at its March 15 worksession on how it may support the request for the State to provide a $50 million subsidy to increase the number of affordable graduate housing units in College Park.