Repelling UMD Students?! Clash Over College Park's Rent Control Extention.

With the economy finally starting to recover, even though the real economy will not see a recovery anytime soon, it's still important for people to keep or to be able to afford a home, even if it means renting an apartment. This is especially true for students studying in the University of Maryland. Problem is that apartments will be more expensive if the landlords get their way to abolish rent control.

Many landlords accused the city of having an ulterior motive behind the ordinance — to rid neighborhoods of students from the University of Maryland, College Park.

"You can't come out and say, ‘We don't want students living here,'" said Bryan Mack, a College Park landlord who lives in Mount Airy. "But I think that's what's lying underneath everything."

While many landlords favored the outright abolishment of the ordinance, students at Tuesday's hearing spoke in favor of extending rent control to apartments as well as houses.

"The new [apartments] that are being built have an unfair advantage. They can charge rents that are artificially high," said Bob Hayes, a UM junior. "The only reason that I can afford to live in College Park is because I'm able to rent a single-family house with a group of people."

People should be able to rent rooms to other people, as long as they pay their share of the rent and don't disturb the community. The vote is scheduled on August 11 and this blog will cover it.