Dive Brief:

• Concern over dangerous off-campus student living conditions in Boston has led Mayor Martin J. Walsh to propose partnerships between schools and private developers that would add 18,500 new dormitory beds to the city by 2030.
• Several colleges have welcomed the proposal, the Boston Globe reported.
• The plan would encourage private developers to build the housing, which will cost more than $2.6 billion, with guarantees from Boston colleges and universities that they would lease space in the buildings.

Dive Insight:

The plus for the colleges is that they won’t have to pledge large amounts of their own capital, plus they gain more oversight over their students. The benefit for the city, besides easing off-campus housing shortages that helped create the shoddy living conditions, is that the privately developed housing is taxable. Dorms built by non-profit colleges are not taxed. According to the Globe, which wrote a series of stories documenting the overcrowded, dangerous conditions for off-campus students, the city still hasn’t followed through on its pledge to increase the number of its building inspectors.