Poor people: Still really annoying, at least according to an ordinance passed by the West Des Moines City Council last Monday.

No more than three unrelated people can live in a single-family home in West Des Moines anymore, per the measure that passed by a 3-1 vote.

Does the rule sound familiar? It ought to, since, according to The Des Moines Register, it was modeled after the Ames ordinance that was held up by the Iowa Supreme Court last year.

The rule was a bad idea in Ames, where it pits cantankerous Campustown residents against irresponsible, inebriated college students. Because, as this debate always goes, all Campustown residents are crotchety, and all college students want to do is get drunk and trash the neighborhood.

But now it’s in West Des Moines, where the distinction isn’t so clear. What, upper-middle-class white residents are afraid of people who aren’t living the same American dream?

College students — or, for that matter, the elderly, gay people, veterans returning home, or anyone else not living to the traditional idea of family — don’t live with four other college students because they want to be nuisances. They do it because it’s affordable, and given the recent economic climate, no one can fault them for that.

Opponents say these laws are necessary because they prevent the evils of traffic, noise and on-street parking. That’s great, but we have separate ordinances to deal with these. If your college-aged neighbor throws a party that’s too noisy, great. Call the cops. Never mind that this law doesn’t take into account a family of 12 related by blood, because traditional families aren’t noisy, or don’t cause parking problems, or don’t create more traffic.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t housing problem in both Ames and West Des Moines. Campustown has several houses that ought to be razed, although it’s telling that college students still rent these places, year in and year out. But these aren’t problem houses because the people living in them are unrelated — the Ames ordinance has been on the books since 1962, and we’re still having problems.

Iowa often complains about young adults fleeing the state. No wonder, when the establishment is busy putting up barriers for young professionals trying to get by. This West Des Moines ordinance is nonsense. Same goes for the Ames one. Both cities would do well to repeal them.