Issues important to students may not get the most play in
election rhetoric, but discussion by city politicians of affordable
housing and student voting participation have become prominent
issues in local elections on tomorrow’s ballot.

Two forums held Thursday and Friday by students at the Taubman
College of Architecture and Urban Planning focused heavily on
issues relating to the lack of affordable housing in Ann Arbor.

The first forum brought together three candidates for the 3rd
ward seat on the Ann Arbor City Council and State Rep. Chris Kolb
(D-Ann Arbor), who is running for re-election, as well as Washtenaw
County Commissioner candidate Conan Smith. The second forum
involved discussions with Ann Arbor Mayor John Hietfje, a Democrat,
and his Republican opponent Jane Lumm.

The general consensus among candidates is that Ann Arbor’s
downtown needs to be developed further, and population and building
density increased.

“We have a high demand for housing in Ann Arbor and not
enough space,” said Jean Carlberg, incumbent Democratic
candidate for the council. “We’re expected to grow by
about 5,000 people in the next 20 years, and we won’t have
enough space for them unless we change our style of
building.”

Green Party candidate for 3rd Ward Marc Reichardt explained that
one of the ways more density can be achieved is to build taller
mixed-use buildings. “We need to build five- to nine-story
buildings in the downtown where the first floor would be retail,
middle floors would be offices and upper floors would be
residential,” Reichardt said. “If we built more
buildings like this, we would end up with developments that have an
almost guaranteed occupancy rate.”

Libertarian 3rd ward candidate Rich Birkett said he
doesn’t think of affordable housing as a big problem in Ann
Arbor.

“I tell people who want affordable housing in Ann Arbor
that they should look in Ypsilanti,” Birkett said.

While many candidates agree that building in downtown would
increase density, they also acknowledge that it’s not an easy
task.

The long process of gaining approval for new construction, in
addition to the costs of building downtown, make it difficult to
find builders willing to construct lower income housing.

Students also inquired about adding accessory dwelling units to
homes in certain neighborhoods. ADUs allow people to rent a room in
their home to students or other individuals in need of housing.

When the current City Council proposed creating ADUs, its
members were faced with significant opposition from neighborhood
groups.

Some people attending the forums suggested opposition was
motivated by residents’ biases against the types of people
who might rent ADUs.

“We were hearing outrage from the neighborhoods. …
I don’t think you should force things down the throat of the
neighborhoods,” Hieftje said.

Some students raised the point that neighborhoods might have
been more receptive to the idea of ADUs if they knew more about
what they would entail.

“I see ADUs as a very initial first step in making density
work in Ann Arbor,” LSA junior Chris Flack said. “I
think the problem with the initial proposal was a lack of community
involvement and information provided to the community on the
issue.”

The issue of communication between the government and city
residents led some students to ask how they could become more
involved in city government and have their voices heard more
often.

“Forums like this one are a great way for students to get
involved,” Lumm said. “There are lots of case studies
and field projects that show that if the city government could work
together with the students, it would really help improve our
neighborhoods.”

“Students have the same access to city government as
everyone else. I look at students not as people who are living here
for 4 years or 10 years, but as permanent residents, and we need to
take care of them just like we do with all citizens,” Hiefte
said.