2008 Woodie Awards
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Housing Crisis A Concern For Off Campus Students
Price of living off campus is deterring some students from moving.
Angela P. Smith
6/23/08
Nation & World
Nation & World
Home foreclosure rates and late payments have reached record levels this year and are expected to keep rising. The situation is also affecting college students wishing to live off campus.
Senior speech and applied communications major, R'Kheim Young, once lived in a house off campus, but returned to dorm life because of rising rent costs.
"Within the last two years, prices have risen significantly," Young said. "The same houses that were about $500 monthly have now gone up $300 more."
In response to the growing number of foreclosures, the National Urban League and MetLife Foundation have expanded an existing partnership that will prevent foreclosures and increase home ownership in the black communities of five cities, where the mortgage crisis has had an even more profound impact.
The cities sharing the $1 million grant for homeownership and mortgage advice are Chicago, Seattle, St. Louis, Dallas, and Greenville, NY.
"The whole point is preparation," said Katie Taylor, the National Director of Housing and Financial Education for the National Urban League. "This is especially true for young people looking to buy homes out of college."
Taylor suggests that college grads maintain good credit and seek credit counseling if needed.
"Trying to purchase a home with bad credit will only result in high interest rates and other bad turns," she added. "Do not buy until ready."
Gerald Womack, a Houston-based real estate executive, gives similar advice, saying that young adults should also find a good, knowledgeable broker or agent and to not buy the first house that they find.
"Do your research," Womack said. "Learn about the neighborhood and try to figure out what it may be like in five years."
For students looking for off campus housing at a more reasonable price, Young recommends choosing an older house and finding at least two roommates.
"It will be somewhat cheaper, but then, along with gentrification it may not make too much of a difference," he said.
In efforts to reduce mortgage foreclosures, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have developed their own distinctive strategies.
Obama has offered a plan that will include aggressive regulation of financial institutions, relief for homeowners and a $30-billion economic stimulus package, including a $10-billion foreclosure prevention fund.
McCain was initially opposed to government response to the crisis; however, after much criticism he shifted his stance on April 10 and proposed spending up to $10 million for government-backed mortgages to deserving homeowners facing foreclosure.
Young hopes something will come through to solve the nationwide housing plight; he would eventually like to move back off campus. "I enjoy the freedom that comes with living off campus," he said. "But I simply just cannot afford it right now."
Senior speech and applied communications major, R'Kheim Young, once lived in a house off campus, but returned to dorm life because of rising rent costs.
"Within the last two years, prices have risen significantly," Young said. "The same houses that were about $500 monthly have now gone up $300 more."
In response to the growing number of foreclosures, the National Urban League and MetLife Foundation have expanded an existing partnership that will prevent foreclosures and increase home ownership in the black communities of five cities, where the mortgage crisis has had an even more profound impact.
The cities sharing the $1 million grant for homeownership and mortgage advice are Chicago, Seattle, St. Louis, Dallas, and Greenville, NY.
"The whole point is preparation," said Katie Taylor, the National Director of Housing and Financial Education for the National Urban League. "This is especially true for young people looking to buy homes out of college."
Taylor suggests that college grads maintain good credit and seek credit counseling if needed.
"Trying to purchase a home with bad credit will only result in high interest rates and other bad turns," she added. "Do not buy until ready."
Gerald Womack, a Houston-based real estate executive, gives similar advice, saying that young adults should also find a good, knowledgeable broker or agent and to not buy the first house that they find.
"Do your research," Womack said. "Learn about the neighborhood and try to figure out what it may be like in five years."
For students looking for off campus housing at a more reasonable price, Young recommends choosing an older house and finding at least two roommates.
"It will be somewhat cheaper, but then, along with gentrification it may not make too much of a difference," he said.
In efforts to reduce mortgage foreclosures, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have developed their own distinctive strategies.
Obama has offered a plan that will include aggressive regulation of financial institutions, relief for homeowners and a $30-billion economic stimulus package, including a $10-billion foreclosure prevention fund.
McCain was initially opposed to government response to the crisis; however, after much criticism he shifted his stance on April 10 and proposed spending up to $10 million for government-backed mortgages to deserving homeowners facing foreclosure.
Young hopes something will come through to solve the nationwide housing plight; he would eventually like to move back off campus. "I enjoy the freedom that comes with living off campus," he said. "But I simply just cannot afford it right now."
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