20211203-3c-2: Citywide Student Housing Needs Assessment — original pdf

Recommendation

College Student Commission Recommendation 20211203-3c-2: Citywide Student Housing Needs Assessment Authored by: Chair Jeffrey Clemmons (H-T) WHEREAS, housing is a human right necessary for survival and for students to meet their fullest potential; and, WHEREAS, the well-documented and history of anti-Blackness and systemic discrimination in the City of Austin has created an uneven terrain of opportunity upon which new housing is built, worsening such inequities; and, WHEREAS, many marginalized who come from already underdeveloped communities are most severely impacted by the perpetuating of these longstanding inequities and, thus, find their educational and career prospects curtailed by the inability to find adequate and affordable housing allowing them to go to school in Austin; and, WHEREAS, the institutions under the purview of the College Student Commission each have a unique history that intersects with the greater history of land-use and housing development in Austin, having led to varied capacities for these institutions to provide sufficient housing for their students; and, WHEREAS, students who choose Austin as their home, from across the State of Texas and the world, are made to compete with other renters with greater buying-power and less restricted incomes in the same aggressive housing market; and, WHEREAS, students cannot achieve their fullest potential if they are not situated in environments conducive to their learning experience, especially with the occurrence of increasingly destructive environmental catastrophes influenced by climate change, as 2021 Winter Storm Uri placed students at every university in an unprecedently precarious situation and exacerbated the risk posed by poor housing infrastructure; and, WHEREAS, the City of Austin has never conducted a comprehensive survey of student housing needs and a full consideration of what policies should be put in place to protect student renters. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the College Student Commission recommends Austin City Council direct the Housing and Planning Department to conduct a comprehensive Citywide Student Housing Needs Assessment, addressing the availability of housing stock affordable to students, infrastructural needs of institutions on and off-campus across the city, and take all other appropriate and necessary action to determine the specific housing needs of current and prospective students; and, RESOLVED, that the City Council direct the Housing and Planning Department to produce individualized assessments for each major institution represented by the Commission providing data on the same metrics as those found in the above directed comprehensive assessment and delivered to each university’s equivalent to the Director of Student Life/Student Support and with input from students at each institution. Date of Approval: 3 December 2021 Record of the vote: Passed unanimously, 10-0-0. Motion to pass by Chair Jeffrey Clemmons (H-T), seconded by Commissioner Todd Clayton (H-T). Voting in favor of the recommendation: Co-Chair Lira Ramirez (UT), Secretary Tatum Owens (UT) Commissioners Edwin Bautista (UT), Todd Clayton (H-T), Pete Cervantes (SEU), Esther Heymans (SEU), Justin Parker (ACC), Isaiah Smith (ACC), and Ethan Tobias (SEU). Chair voted in the affirmative. Attest: _____________________________________________ Jeffrey Clemmons of Huston-Tillotson University Chair, College Student Commission