The demand for student housing is ever-present. However, as more and more high-rise apartment buildings are popping up near campus, so-called “luxury” housing options are attracting a lot of criticism.
Sometimes, this criticism centers on issues of displacement. Opening up an area for new apartment complexes often requires demolishing existing buildings in the area. This drives out whatever people and businesses were previously established there.
That being said, there are reasons builders choose to put up their complexes. Students seem willing to pay higher prices to live close to campus. None of us want to wait for a city bus or pay to park our cars every time we go to class.
The new apartments are safe, too — as a current resident of the Marshall, one of the new luxury housing complexes in Dinkytown, I can personally attest to this. Living in areas like Marcy-Holmes or Southeast Como could save you a decent chunk of money, but it could also threaten your safety, especially if you’re walking home late at night.
Whatever the benefits of luxury housing, it’s becoming increasingly harder to find a reasonably priced apartment in the Dinkytown area. The city should impose more stringent limits on how many new complexes can be built per year. This might help maintain some of the city’s older properties — or, at the very least, slow down the development process and allow students to get used to the change.
With the cost of college already so high, luxury housing only adds to the bill. Whether it’s worth the money is something we need to decide before “luxury” is the only housing option we have left.
