EDITORIAL & OPINION: Meeting all housing needs

Penn should focus attention on making area housing more accessible for the graduate student body. In combination, these efforts promote two important goals: Better housing for undergraduates and increased stability in the surrounding neighborhood. Now, it is time Penn addressed those issues with respect to another important group -- the substantial graduate student population, who have moved in increasing numbers to Center City in recent years. That trend, and the overall need to accommodate graduate students, raise two important considerations. First, it is important that Penn work to provide sufficient and affordable housing for its graduate students, preferably in the immediate campus environs. Second, graduate students represent a potentially important group in the effort to stabilize the surrounding neighborhood. With an average stay of four to five years, they are an important mid-range group of potential homeowners. And encouraging graduate students to purchase or rent homes in the area increases the odds that they will remain in West Philadelphia after graduation -- something that has long been an issue for area universities. For these reasons, we encourage Penn to explore options for making area housing more accessible to grad students. In particular, we endorse a Graduate Student Associations Council proposal that Penn extend, in some form, its current loan and subsidy program for faculty and staff purchasing homes in West Philadelphia to graduate students. Of course, the amount of the subsidy should not match that provided to faculty and staff, groups who are committing to a longer period of residency. But an appropriately sized subsidy for graduate students committing to a multi-year residence in the University City area seems a positive way to increase residential stability and provide students with affordable housing. In addition, we encourage Penn to evaluate the cost of housing in Sansom Place -- formerly Graduate Towers. Possibilities include reduced rents or increased living subsidies for graduate students. Penn has demonstrated a strong sense of the need to provide quality housing for the members of its community. We trust that commitment will evidence itself with respect to graduate housing, as well.