Housing costs dominate forum discussion between CSU students, elected officials
Speaking at a roundtable forum with more than 20 elected representatives, students at Colorado State University roundly criticized the city’s U+2 housing ordinance Monday night.
Although there were plenty of other topics discussed at the individual tables, each including an elected representative or two, the 110 students mostly questioned why the U+2 rule exists and what they can do to change it during the session in the Never No Summer Room at CSU’s Lory Student Center.
Fort Collins' U+2 residential occupancy restriction limits most housing in the city to contain no more than three unrelated residents and has become an oft-criticized target of those advocating for measures to improve housing affordability in the city.
On Monday, students and elected representatives were assigned seats at tables with specific topics for the first two 20-minute sessions, and then allowed to choose the topic they were interested in most for the final 20 minutes in a format designed and overseen by CSU’s Center for Public Deliberation and its founder and director, communications studies professor Martin Carcasson.
More than 20 elected officials participated in this year’s ASCSU Community Roundtable, making it the largest, by far, in the half-dozen or so years it has been held, Carcasson said. Five of the seven members of Fort Collins City Council, all three Larimer County commissioners and one from Adams County participated, as did three members of the Colorado General Assembly’s Joint Budget Committee. Three other members of the General Assembly were there, too, along with the state treasurer, Larimer County clerk and recorder, 8th Judicial District attorney, a former Fort Collins mayor and representatives of Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and 2nd Congressional District Rep. Joe Neguse.
“I’m just really impressed with the turnout we got,” said Nick DeSalvo, president of the Associated Students of CSU, which sponsored the event. “I think it shows there’s a lot of student engagement and desire to be involved in these conversations.”
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The conversation most wanted to have was over housing and the high cost of living in Fort Collins, which were separate topics among the eight or so chosen for discussion. Others were transportation; environment and sustainability; infrastructure and public services; higher education; public safety and criminal justice; and democracy and voting.
“Young people have so much to offer,” said state Rep. Cathy Kipp, D-Fort Collins. “They’re learning stuff. These kids are the ones who are engaged and who are our future. I’m just really excited that they’re here and talking to us.”
Several students admitted they violate the U+2 ordinance out of necessity.
“I live in a house with five people, and we’re all out of state and paying really high tuition, so it’s the only way we can afford to be here,” one student told Fort Collins Mayor Jeni Arndt, a representative for Bennet and others at her table.
Another student, speaking at a different table, said she lives in a house with three other students that she’s not related to. And those speaking at yet another table were questioning Fort Collins Mayor pro-tem Emily Francis and state Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, about the U+2 ordinance and efforts to modify or eliminate it.
Statewide efforts to address affordable housing issues are difficult, Armagost said, because a solution that might work in Boulder or Fort Collins isn’t going to work in a rural setting on the Western Slope.
Local efforts, Arndt and Francis said at their respective tables, aren’t going anywhere, either, though, because of opposition from people who know how to use the political system to their advantage, threatening recall votes of elected officials and organizing petition drives to block actions by City Council.
“Rich, privileged, white people are vehemently opposed to removing U+2,” Arndt said, calling a recent report that listed Fort Collins as having the third-highest housing costs in a non-coastal state, trailing only Denver and Boulder, “unacceptable.”
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Arndt and Francis were each quick to note to those at their tables that the issue goes well beyond affordable living for college students. It’s having a negative impact on the entire workforce, Arndt said, noting that nurses, firefighters and others are also finding it difficult to live and work in Fort Collins.
Jorja Whyte, a student director of health and wellness for ASCSU, the university’s student government, took it a step further.
“A lot of our discussion today was how do we keep college students here after they graduate,” she said. “As a university city, we provide innovation, we provide so much vibrancy and energy to Fort Collins in general. So, when our housing costs are so expensive that we can’t stay here after we graduate, then how do we keep that vibrancy and innovation and all that resiliency that makes Fort Collins so special?”
None of the elected officials had any magic solutions for the issues students were concerned about the most. But all said it was helpful to hear firsthand the stories behind those concerns and to get a better understanding of what today’s students and tomorrow’s leaders are facing as they are continually squeezed by rising rents and higher tuition costs.
“I think college students are feeling pretty hopeless about their vote and whether it really counts or not,” Fort Collins City Council member Shirley Peel said. “They just don’t feel like they have a voice.
“I get it. I hope they don’t give up, and I hope we keep working toward a solution and that they’re part of the solution. This is a great turnout, so I’m excited.”
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Housing costs a hot topic at CSU student forum with elected officials
