City might ease student house rule

Landlords can have licenses pulled if they can’t find collegiate tenants within a year

Because of a shortage of Penn State Altoona students in the local housing market, the city may eliminate a zoning rule that hurts landlords by revoking their student housing licenses after a year if they can't find student tenants.

More than two dozen student homes are currently empty because their owners think they can't rent freely to non-students without jeopardizing their student-rental status, according to Rebecca Brown, director of the Department of Codes & Inspections, speaking at a City Council meeting.

Solicitor Tom Finn will look to amend the zoning ordinance to create flexibility, so landlords who hold "special exceptions" for student rentals can rent to non-students whenever necessary.

The existing situation "is a hardship for landlords," Brown told council members.

"I'm glad to see they're doing something," said Pam Mitchell, who has student housing properties in the city. "It's been nerve-wracking."

Under current zoning law, the special exceptions that allow property owners to rent to students expire after 12 months in which there are no student tenants in a house.

After such an expiration, a landlord who either hadn't found a student tenant or whose house was tied up with a non-student lease would need to reapply to the Zoning Hearing Board for a new special exception in order to resume student rentals, Brown said.

There's no guarantee one would be available at that point, she said.

One wouldn't be available if the Zoning Hearing Board had licensed another student house close to the property in question. The zoning ordinance requires a minimum distance between student homes, Brown said.

Landlord Mitchell has been dealing with the issue by renting her student homes to non-students looking for short-term digs.

She's targeted pipeline workers, seasonal workers and people on temporary assignments and has made it clear that their stays are limited, so she can rent to students, her preferred demographic, when students are available.

Sometimes students are available only for short stays, but that's OK, because that "resets the clock," so her licenses for those homes are valid for at least another year -- even if she reverts again to non-student tenants, she said.

She has avoided renting to families with children, not wanting to put them in an unstable situation.

"I don't want to play with people's lives," Mitchell said.

She's pleased with the new city initiative.

"Flexibility and freedom to make the best decisions for families and students," she said.

Long-term flexibility, so landlords can move freely between renting to students and renting to non-students, makes sense, because it's not clear that the factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, that have reduced student housing demand are going away anytime soon, according to Mayor Matt Pacifico and Councilman Bruce Kelley.

A revised ordinance could create a category for student housing licenses that is akin to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's "safekeeping" category for liquor licenses, Kelley said.

"That's a fair analogy," said Finn.

"Blessed are the flexible; they shall not break," quipped Councilman Dave Butterbaugh, riffing on the New Testament Beatitudes.

It's especially unfortunate that homes are sitting empty, because there's an abundance of people looking for housing in connection with COVID-related evictions, Mitchell said.

"We're flooded now with people looking for housing," she said.

It's also never a good thing when homes are vacant for long periods, Kelley said.

"It invites problems," he said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.