In an attempt to discourage students from using College housing as a backup plan, the Office of Residential Life has changed their policy, deterring applicants from changing their housing plans at the last minute. At the same time, certain landlords throughout Hanover have noticed a decline in interest from would-be tenants.
The policy change for the upcoming school year includes a fee of $250 for relinquishing College housing any time after selecting a room, and a $500 fee for giving it up after July 1.
Redman said that although this is the second change in two years, it is a continuation of ORL's attempts to fine-tune their policy.
ORL is attempting to make the room draw experience as convenient as possible for students, Redman said, but at the same time they must remember how their choices negatively impact others.
"Students aren't playing fair," Redman said of going through room draw as a backup plan to off-campus housing.
Last year's policy, which fined students only after the single deadline of Aug. 1, proved to be problematic, he said. This was because the August cancellation date came after ORL's attempt to assign students on the wait list rooms. Perhaps because of the change, fewer students are living off-campus.
"We have heard anecdotally from a couple of landlords that demand is down for off-campus units," Hanover Town Managaer Julia Griffin said.
Another reason for the drop may lie in ORL's recently announced gender-neutral pilot program. Redman said that the offer of this special housing option might mean that students who would before live off campus will now live in a campus residence hall, although there are only 40 to 60 gender-neutral spaces available.
The decline, Griffin added, may be in the best interest of students.
"I'm sure [landlords] don't necessarily feel it is a good thing, either they have vacant units or they can't continue to rent at high rents," Griffin said. "Given the conditions of some of those properties we aren't very sympathetic to their plight."
Griffin cited aesthetic issues, dilapidated conditions in regards to paint, plumbing, and kitchen appliances as some of the major failings of some of these residences.
"For a long time we have been asking for more housing. We hate to see students forced to live off-campus because they don't have any housing on-campus," she said.
Griffin said that her hope is that those off-campus houses in the worst shape will be forced to bring their units up to par with other houses.
"Ideally what happens when the College builds more undergraduate housing is some of the less maintained houses go off the market," she said.
The Hanover Fire Department and the Planning and Zoning department have reported noticing violations regarding paths of egress, conditions of heating and ventilation systems, and students living in basements and attics.
"We have seen situations where more students are packed in a house then should legally or safely be here," Griffin said. "We have seen it all."
Griffin said that students usually do not report properties until they have vacated them for fear of being evicted, losing their security deposit or breaking their lease.
"Students are not necessarily happy with the situation, but they are afraid to complain," Griffin said. "[But] unless we hear about them specifically we don't have the right to enter the property; we need a reason."
Not all landlords in the Hanover area said student interest has fallen. Some said that last year all properties they tried to sell were sold.
"It's kind of just getting into the time of the year," one landlord, who preferred not to be named, said. "It's hard to call it just yet."
He said that the turnover for his off-campus units occurs around June and July, after graduation.
"What's always happened is when there is more housing, the radius around the campus shrinks," said Jolin Salazar-Kish, a Hanover landlord who manages over 100 units.
Students want the convenience of living off campus but do not want to have to walk for more than five minutes to have it, she explained.
"The demand is not down for places surrounding campus," she said.
Salazar-Kish said that years ago Dartmouth students could be found 20 miles away from campus in Fairlee, Vt. Today, she said it's surprising to find a student living more than five miles away.
