For Kody Olson, Student Government’s senior director of governmental affairs, and Ames City Council Ex-Officio Robert Bingham, addressing the upcoming occupancy ordinance has been a contentious and often lonely battle for the two Iowa State students.

Standing in front of the Ames City Council in September, Olson had a plea: Please keep students in your mind.

“The city of Ames should be doing everything in its power to make sure living here is as easy as possible,” he said, specifically in light of possible tuition increases.

During a council meeting just two weeks before, the language surrounding students had transitioned into a negative connotation. A South Campus Area Neighborhood representative said if occupancy is not restricted in some shape or form, their neighborhood would inevitably turn into a “student slum.”

The question the council then prompted to investigate being: Can we limit occupancy based on student status?

“Student is not a protected class, so they can discriminate or categorize based on that, which I’m thoroughly opposed to,” Bingham said in a previous interview. 

This resonated with Bingham.

“It was very clear that they don’t have an issue with renters; they have an issue with student renters,” he said.

As the discussions continued and the council moved away from limiting occupancy based on student status but rather by the number of bedrooms and off-street parking, Student Government has advocated for the position they believe works best for the students: number of bedrooms.

In a resolution introduced as new business during the last Student Government Senate meeting and debated Wednesday, Nov. 8 — Sen. Ian Steenhoek, who authored the legislation, is requesting the Student Government ask the city to not adopt an off-street parking clause into its new ordinance.

“The availability of living space should not be tied to ownership or use of a vehicle, as the city of Ames provides several sustainable forms of transportation, such as CyRide, biking lanes and trail systems,” the resolution reads. “All residents should have the right to live where they choose and with whom without arbitrary limits or limits tied to available parking.”

The Senate passed a resolution to be sent to the council to discourage them from including off-street parking as a clause in its new ordinance. Student Government will send the resolution to council members ahead of its next meeting, which is Nov. 14.

Additionally, Student Government is also working to address other issues regarding rental housing in Ames for students, including an initiative being spearheaded by Vice President Cody Smith to revamp Rent Smart Ames.

Rent Smart Ames is a resource available to landlords and tenants with the “expertise to make renting in Ames a smart choice.”

Campaigning on “reinventing residency,” Smith and President Cody West promised to deliver on finding a middle ground with landlords and property managers to push back lease signing dates as well as refigure Rent Smart Ames.

Student Government put the initial funding toward Rent Smart Ames five to six years ago.

“The way the city described it to me was that it was an intern for the city that was also in Student Government who had done the project,” Smith said. “So when he or she had left, it was just kind of done.”

Rent Smart Ames also ties in with the Iowa Housing Search, which Smith feels is currently underused as a resource and would like to see it more specific to Ames.

“We’re going to have a discussion with our IT director to see if we could move RentSmart to Student Government’s page and that way we would have a specific person dedicated each year to up-keeping it,” Smith said.

Additionally, Smith would also like to see a rating system during his administration that would rank housing in Ames on things such as its proximity to campus, CyRide accessibility and rent prices.

“I essentially want to use Rent Smart Ames to encourage businesses to use student-friendly practices,” Smith said.

To do this, Smith said, Student Government would establish a criteria and then go to companies to discuss their program and what they are looking for in student housing.

“And if they meet our criteria, we’ll give them whatever we decided the certification is … that will become a part of the culture at Iowa State and Ames,” Smith said. “So, as a student coming in through orientation, I know that if it’s Rent Smart approved — then it’s probably a good company and I can trust putting my resources there.”

All in all, Smith would like to see existing resources be put to better use to create better housing accommodations.

“I view it as our role because it is an issue that students face … I’d like to partner with resources that we already have on campus,” Smith said.

Additionally, he would like to see more of an encouragement for the use of off-campus rentals, even in the Department of Residence.

“If the Department of Residence knows that students are going to move off-campus, then maybe we can direct them to this program,” Smith said. “That way, we know that students are getting good care and making sure that they are not being conned out of any extra money.”

Editor’s note: This article was updated on Nov. 6 to include that Student Government passed the resolution to discourage City Council from including off-street parking as a clause in its new ordinance.