The Student Council representative body unanimously approved Tuesday night a resolution to create a new off-Grounds housing office.
Architecture Rep. Greg Moore and College Rep. Marisa Nelson sponsored the resolution to create the Student Off-Grounds Housing Office. Both Moore and Nelson said they hope the office would provide upperclassmen with a more positive experience.
The new office will focus on education, mediation services between tenants and landlords, legal support and centralizing a database with a comprehensive listing of all of the available housing for both on- and off-Grounds.
Moore said the office "will hopefully solve the housing crisis off-Grounds."
Moore, who also serves as Inter-Fraternity Council vice president for membership, said the Housing Committee wanted to pass a resolution now in order to secure Council's support for further research and planning.
Council President Daisy Lundy said ideally the money for the new office would come from the Student Activities Fund, similar to the way SAF supports Student Legal Services.
Another bill would have to be passed later on, however, in order for Council to allocate the SAF funds for the Student Off-Grounds Housing Office.
Chief Housing Officer Mark Doherty said he thought that the Off-Grounds Housing Office is an "excellent initiative" despite the unpopularity of a similar University housing office that existed about 10 years ago.
The older version of office served as a clearinghouse for leases in order to help regulate the market, but the office closed because of budget concerns.
"Towards the end of its operation few students used it," Doherty said. "It wasn't a good use of student rent money."
Doherty said he is optimistic about the new office because there is a significant focus on student education and landlord communications.
He added that there has been a substantial amount of construction on and off Grounds that has changed the housing market dynamics "quite a bit."
Though the Housing Office has said there is no correlation between the two events, the closing of the first off-Grounds housing office closely predated the trend in earlier lease-signing dates.
Council said they hope the new office will more successfully mitigate housing issues than the old off-Grounds housing office.
According to the resolution's proponents, several administrators have been receptive to the inception of another off-Grounds Housing Office, including University Rector Gordon Rainey and President John T. Casteen, III.
Nelson said she met with Vice President for Student Affairs Pat Lampkin to begin discussing the new project and a tentative budget in order to get the logistical planning for the office started.
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