• C.6 - Enhance Community Housing Opportunities Problem: Faculty & Staff Housing is Inadequate and Unaffordable Historically Warren Wilson has been committed to encouraging faculty and staff to reside on campus in order to heighten the social and cultural atmosphere of the College, to enhance community cohesiveness and to offer economic opportunities in housing that would not otherwise be available. It has also become evident that we should attempt to minimize the carbon footprint represented by community commuting. This policy notwithstanding, College residential rental stock currently is inadequate in quantity, substandard in quality and in many cases not well located or of Appropriate Density. This is largely a result of appropriating whatever buildings became available over time and putting them to this use. The buildings are generally of such an age and quality of construction that they cannot economically be brought up to contemporary standards, particularly in the areas of energy efficiency and indoor air quality. The current regime of transferring ownership of College-owned single-family homes to faculty and staff with buy-back provisions unnecessarily subjects them to a recurring appraisal/mortgage cycle in the context of an adversarial economy represented by Buncombe County property values. The result is that over time these houses have become unaffordable at faculty and staff salaries, and that the College cannot sell them at market value. In both these cases the College should recognize that continuing its commitment to promote the quality of community life through housing opportunity will require commitment and planning, and that it may be necessary to take a larger institutional role in creating and underwriting a micro-economy for campus housing.
Action Item C.6.1 – Establish a goal for specific numbers of staff and faculty who can be accommodated in housing on campus in which the College will serve as owner, landlord or development partner in some degree. Investigate the practicality of pursuing such a goal through creative financing and development partnerships and identify and zone areas in which such housing will be built.
Pattern Language: Appropriate Density (CMPL1), Selective Partnership (ADPL6), Minimize Commuting (ADPL8)
34