Presentation Slideshow

St. Lawrence University
Canton, NY
Faculty Staff Housing
Canton, NY • Rural – Village of about 6300 people
• Two Colleges in Canton:
– SUNY Canton – Many students live off campus
– St. Lawrence – Most students live on campus
• Little rental housing (outside of student housing)
Why Own Housing?
• Limited Availability of rentals in Canton and surrounding communities
• Recruitment – the fact that we have them is important to candidates
• Houses are almost all on Main Street, adjacent to the campus – They provide a buffer zone that the University can control
Issues
• Maintenance ‐‐ The houses do not generate the revenue necessary to maintain them as we would like. • Sense that the University should do more than most landlords/employee relations
• Limited availability
• Relatively high property taxes
Managing Risk
• University property and insured for damaged under general policies
• We advise that tenants get renter’s insurance as loss of personal property is not covered.
• Instituted quarterly safety check by a team from Security, FacOps and Risk Management.
• Tenants sign off on the first check of the academic year that they’ve been informed of their responsibilities to maintain a safe facilities and address any issues of their own. They can be present at the other checks, but not required to be there.
Buena Vista University
• Located in Storm Lake, Iowa
• Population about 12,000
• Main industries: Education, Agriculture/Light Manufacturing, Meat Packing
• Thus, large transient population and competitive rental market with poor stock
• Most rental properties are unacceptable for faculty
• ≅140‐150 miles from Des Moines and Omaha
• Desirable rentals convey by word‐of‐mouth
• “Starter homes” (<$100,000) are usually not very nice or have serious problems
• Very limited spousal/partner employment opportunities
Challenges for BVU‐Owned Housing
• Many private houses near campus are not in good shape and when put on market sellers ask high (over‐market) prices from the university. We currently lack the financial flexibility to add to our stock of rentals.
• Rent generally does not cover university’s carrying costs even for paid‐for properties, which has led to declining condition in may houses.
• As a result, BVU has torn down four houses in the past six years, moved one, and allocated another to ROTC.
• Total houses now in use as rentals = 6.
In addition, we have four 2‐bedroom units in duplexes next to campus: The upside of these is the view of Storm Lake:
Other issues:
• The duplexes, and some other temporary housing including two or three apartments in the residence halls, tend to be used for housing visiting faculty, our annual lecturer from a partner institution in Taiwan, and for other similar purposes, so they are not reliably available
for new faculty.
• The six houses we still own and rent out are not always available when needed
.
• We have no policy about the length of time faculty may rent before they have to find another living arrangement.
We are a university, not a property‐management company.
Tanya Landgraf, BVU purchasing manager and risk‐management coordinator
True, but what are the challenges?
• Having to explain to potential hires the issues with the housing market, compounding challenges in recruiting faculty to rural NW Iowa
• Virtually every new faculty member ends up “playing chicken” with the Storm Lake rental market, often securing housing sometime during the summer before arriving
• Stress on the VPAA’s office, especially my administrative assistant, who helps new faculty coordinate their moves • Do we want even to imply that new faculty should consider buying a house before they, and we, understand how well they will do at BVU?
• New faculty often lack the financial ability to secure a mortgage, especially since 2008
Questions and Discussion

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