The Ames City Council discussed, at length, the transformation of owner-occupied homes into rental housing at the Feb. 24 meeting.

Owner-occupied homes have become rental housing in some neighborhoods in Ames. With legislature on the move in the Iowa Congress, some Ames residents and council members are afraid rental housing could overtake even more neighborhoods in Ames.

Kelly Diekmann, director of planning and housing, proposed four possible options for what could happen to the owner-occupied housing areas. The council accepted the staff report with the possibility of pursuing one, or none, of the following options: density restriction to certain zones, a separation requirement, a quota of housing or neighborhood self-selection.

Neighborhoods like the one on Hunt Street — which were originally built for owner-occupied living, meaning they were built with the idea individuals who come to Ames to build a family and settle down — have become rental housing. This transformation, mostly taken over by students living four to a home, has changed parts of the community, leading to less families planting their roots. 

“Permanent residents are essential to healthy neighborhoods,” said councilmember Gloria Betcher. “We need to have a balance [of permanent residents and students], even near campus.”

The legislation in the Iowa Congress could possibly no longer allow cities, like Ames, to create housing ordinances like the one that is currently in place. 

A current Ames ordinance allows three unrelated occupants per unit. The fear Matthew Goodman has is rental housing that was meant for owner-occupied housing will allow five or even more occupants to live in a house. 

“The limitation was created for diverse neighborhoods,” Goodman said. “Hunt Street being owner occupied is not realistic. There’s only one owner-occupied house left on Hunt Street.”

However, councilmember Peter Orazem said he isn’t concerned with trying to control how many students are living in one rental home, but rather how many rental houses are in an area. 

“I want to be cautious of removing property rights,” Orazem said. “What we want to do is make sure people aren’t doing what they shouldn’t be doing.”

During the past 10 years, neighborhoods like the one Betcher and Mayor Ann Campbell live in have seen an increase in rental living. The direction of what will happen next depends heavily on what happens in the statehouse. For now, councilmembers were left to sit, debate and ultimately wait. 

“I don’t want a gated community ‘A’ and a gated community ‘B’,” Goodman said. “We could be undoing of what this community fought so hard for years ago.”