The Politics of Studentification: An Analysis of the Student Housing Debate in Boston

Abstract

Recent popular and scholarly work has drawn attention to the relationship between universities and urban housing markets. Universities play a critical role in the post-industrial urban economy and have many impacts beyond their campus. This paper focuses on the policy debates to expand housing for students with the intention of relieving pressure in the rental housing market in cities that are home to many higher education institutions and their students. Boston, for example, is home to one of the largest student populations enrolled in institutions of higher education in the United States. The city faces a tight rental market, in part, because of the high number of students who seek off-campus rental housing. This paper examines the evolution of a policy debate about universities and rental housing that led to the creation of the LightView housing project at Northeastern University. Drawing on archival analysis of public documents and key informant interviews with stakeholders, we identify the tensions of this housing project and the policy debate, in which universities need to confront how their housing projects impact neighborhoods and how the public and transparent nature of development shapes the policy debate.