Why does the town of Durham hate students?
Ever take a walk or a run around the back streets of Durham? Wonder into the faculty neighborhood on a longboard? You may have noticed over the last few years yard signs that say things like "keep students out of neighborhoods!" or "we demand a community friendly plaza plan, not more student housing!". The message is clear as day, the town's people do not like students, or, at least some of them don't. Beside this short sighted viewpoint there is a nasty side effect that is a severely manipulated and inflated student housing market. Keep reading to find out what these signs are for, how they affect you, and what can be done about changing the way Durham treats UNH students.
The Issue
Durham's master plan and zoning regulations put into affect by the Town Council, Zoning, and Planning boards have created a student housing market that is massively manipulated resulting in rental costs much higher than they should be. How?
Three main ways:
1) Limiting the supply of existing housing via discriminatory zoning laws such as section 175-56 which limits the number of unrelated occupants in a dwelling unit to no more than three individuals.
2) The cost of enforcing the discrimination and the generally bloated town budget gets passed directly onto the tax payers and in the case of off campus housing, STUDENTS via an inflated rental rate!
3) The cost and procedure to develop new housing in Durham is excessive and tedious. Any new housing supply must go through a process lead by by the Town Planner, designed to slow down development and make projects unfeasible.
Who's Involved?
Durham is a town controlled by a small group of hateful individuals. These are un-elected towns people who speak at every town council meeting, every zoning board meeting, and constantly write emails and opinions in town communication. They constantly call the code enforcement officer and complain about trivial things. These people lead and control a small voting block in Durham of between 900 and 1500 people. Every year 3 people from within this group volunteer to run for the open council seats. For the last 3 decades those people have been voted in by a small cohort. Then they hire the Town Administrator who runs the town. The immense power they wield comes down to a measly 1500 voters who hate you.
The Solution
The solution is a big task and will take a ton of work but the good news is it's already under way! The founders of Students for Fair Housing have decided to fund the start up of an organization to search and identify candidates to run for Durham Town Council and Zoning Board. We are looking for people who live in Durham. That means you, UNH students! Our candidates will work towards building an equitable relationship between the town of Durham and UNH students.
At the same time, we need your help building a network of voters who will pledge to come out at the next elections to vote for our candidates.
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Next Steps
1) Follow @fairhousingforstudents on IG
2) We need volunteers to organize this movement as an official student organization on campus in the MUB.
3) We are looking for two to four students to run for Town Council and Zoning board in February 2024 as well as candidates for the following February of 2025 to seal the majority!
4) Buy merch (at some point we will need a lawyer and we are trying to raise funds to make sure we cross our t's and dot our i's. SHOP HERE!!
4) Volunteer - We need volunteers for the role of Student Ambassadors. Pre-requisites:
a) Enthusiasm about making this change happen!
b) Ability to communicate to others the core facts around the issues and resolutions
c) No Fear
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