The Burlington City Council decided Monday to seek more accountability from the University of Vermont and Champlain College on housing conditions in student dorms in response to UVM student complaints of poor living conditions.
In the past few weeks, students at the University of Vermont have brought their concerns to City Council meetings. Students read multiple testimonies describing water leaks, mold, insect and rodent sightings, defective heating systems, inoperative elevators, inadequate living space with rooms for two people converted into “forced triple,” and more, while highlighting the lack of a timely and effective response when they submitted complaints to the university.
Ben Robke and Alva Yanowitz, UVM students and representatives of the Student Tenant Union, which was created in September 2024, said the union had six meetings with the university administration to discuss these issues but didn’t see any progress.
They said some of their requests included a cap on enrollment to ensure less crowded dorms and avoid overburdening Burlington’s housing market; compliance with safety and habitability standards; an end to the tiered housing system — where room cost varies by dorm, making it hard for some students to access dorms with better housing conditions — improvements in housing accessibility; and increased transparency.
“We found that the university was not interested in meeting our demands,” Robke said, so the students decided to bring the issues in front of the City Council.
Councilor Marek Broderick, P-Ward 8, who is also a UVM student, sponsored a resolution that the council passed unanimously Monday.
During the meeting, Broderick said that UVM has failed to provide the Department of Permitting and Inspections with records of certifications showing the university has conducted regular inspections in student dorms and certified compliance with the city’s minimum housing standards.
The resolution requests that UVM and Champlain College share details on their inspection and complaints systems and data on housing code violations from the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year to the passage of the resolution, which should be submitted within the next three months.
Additionally, the resolution tasked DPI with creating a template for universities to use to certify comprehensive inspection and complaint procedures, and called on the council’s Ordinance Committee to determine whether the existing regulations go far enough to ensure university dormitories are safe and healthy for residents. The Ordinance Committee will also consider whether universities and colleges should provide students with information to submit external complaints to DPI.
In a letter to DPI, Amanda Clayton, executive director of facilities management at UVM, listed the services the university provides to ensure safe living conditions and align with minimum housing standards but said there are limitations on what the city can regulate.
“The minimum housing standards are outside of the scope for what can be regulated by the municipality and certification of every aspect of these standards would interfere with the intended functional use of the institution and place an exceptional and undue burden on the University,” she wrote.
Hence, the resolution also asks the City Attorney’s Office to weigh in on the city’s authority to require universities and colleges to comply with housing habitability codes and inspection requirements and provide certifications of their compliance.
“The city gives the university a courtesy and a privilege to allow it to conduct its own inspections,” Councilor Evan Litwin (D-Ward 7) said. “We need to be in lockstep with the university for that to work.”
Adam White, director of communications at UVM, wrote in a statement to VTDigger that the university is working with students “to evaluate and improve processes and outcomes related to residence halls.”
Robke said the students were pleased with the outcome of the City Council meetings, but there was still a lot of work to be done.
“We plan on showing up to these ordinance meetings and making our voice continue to be heard,” he said, adding that the students plan to continue having conversations with UVM to end the tiered housing system, ensure gender inclusive and accessible housing, and institute an enrollment cap.
“We are really hoping that people are able to see that this is not just an isolated problem, and that things that are affecting UVM students are also affecting Burlington and Vermont residents,” Yanowitz said.
