A Neighborhood Tries

Elmhurst residents, landlords weigh in on proposed student rental rules


PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Elmhurst residents who said they’re tired of drunken college student parties and landlords who said they’re being punished for the acts of a few bad apples took turns addressing the City Council’s Ordinance Committee on Wednesday evening as the panel began considering rules that could limit how many college students a landlord could allow in a single-family house.

The changes are part of a package of proposed rules that could limit to three the number of college students who could rent rooms in a single-family house, require landlords who rent to them get a student housing license and mandate inspections for the houses involved.

The most restrictive ones, the three-student limit and the licensing requirement, are expected to go before a public hearing later this month.

The proposals are a response to what Ward 5 Councilwoman Jo-Ann Ryan said is a trend in the Elmhurst neighborhood of investors buying single family homes and then renting them out to a half dozen or more students.

The Rev. Augustine Judd, pastor of St. Pius V Church at 55 Elmhurst Ave., and others told the committee that many nights the students have loud parties that go past 2 a.m. and some wander the streets inebriated and urinating in yards.

“The neighborhood is changing, and not for the better,” he said.

Robert A. D’Amico told the committee that the proposals it was looking at could be unconstitutional. He added that placing an unexpected limit on tenants — and by extension a ceiling on the rent they can collect — could lead to mortgage defaults.

“There has been no consideration of the fallout this will have on landlords,” he said.

jhill@providencejournal.com

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