For the past few months, I have been working extensively on passing a change to the zoning code that would limit the allowable number of full-time undergraduate students living in a unit to four.

Prior to 2003, Boston had had an enforceable zoning code statute that stated no more than four persons related by the "second degree of kinship" (ie Brothers, Sisters, Parents, Grandparents and children only) could live together in one unit. In 2003, a court case entitled Sang Vo v. City of Boston was filed which effectively invalidated the current zoning code, making it unenforceable by the Boston Inspectional Services Department. There was always the intention to go back and amend the zoning code in order to update the language.

In the meantime, since 2003, the door has effectively been open for speculative landlords to buy properties and convert spaces into bedrooms in order to put more students into units and charge higher levels of rent that are unaffordable for families or long term residents.

Moreover, as you know, property tax rates in Boston are based on the most recent sale of a surrounding property, so people who had bought their homes many years ago when housing prices were less expensive and who live near a home that just sold for $850,000 to $1,000,000 dollars are then assessed at that value for their taxes, even though they bought their homes long before the student market moved into their neighborhood. The effect that this has had on neighborhoods has been traumatic, just as an example, in the last year alone the back of Mission Hill has lost approximately fifty families and long-term residents who could no longer afford to live there. Our language change to the zoning code was one way in order to address this issue, one tool if you will, in order to preserve neighborhoods.

Most other major cities in the United States have a zoning code that limits residency within apartments; here are a few examples below:

Philadelphia	3 unrelated or less
Salt Lake City	3 unrelated or less
Columbia, SC	3 unrelated or less
Milwaukee	2 unrelated or less
San Francisco	5 unrelated or less
Boulder, CO	3-4 unrelated or less
Gainesville, FL	3 unrelated or less

There are also several cities that incorporate student specific language as well, also listed below:

Newark, DE	3 students or less
Bowling Green, OH	3 students unless in three block area
Bloomsburg, PA	2 or more students: "regulated rental unit"

I am happy to report that after passing unanimously through the City Council in December, this measure subsequently passed unanimously through both the BRA Board in February and the Zoning Commission in March and signed by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, now making it a law in Boston.

I would especially like to take a moment to thank the residents, The Mission Hill Problem Property Taskforce, State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, Mayor Menino, and a number of my fellow Councilors who testified in support at the hearing. Their support has been integral to the passage of this amendment.

I believe that this will be a significant step towards not only addressing the student problems in some of our neighborhoods, but will also be essential to helping to combat the problem of speculative landlords who have been buying properties at exorbitant prices in order to turn a profit on student residency at the expensive of stable housing. These practices have subsequently raised housing prices to nearly unaffordable levels, directly contributing to increasing property taxes and the loss of residents and families in our neighborhoods. It is my sincere hope that this amendment will serve as a way to restore our community and open up opportunities for a diverse array of residents to live in not only my district, but the entire city.