By Zac Estrada, News Staff
Members of the student government and the Office of Off-Campus Student Services said they hope the results of Northeastern’s first Landlord and Realtor survey will be a jumping-off point for generating a list of evaluations for area agents and property owners.
This year’s survey, which went out to Northeastern students in January, includes 15 agent services and 13 landlords or property management companies.
More than 300 students participated in the survey, according to Senator Jonas Edwards-Jenks.
Student Government Association’s (SGA) Student Affairs Committee spent the semester working with Off-Campus Student Services to create and administer the survey. Results were released April 8.
The association is also teaming with other area universities with the long-term goal of establishing a database for college students to use in their search for off-campus housing.
“We had good response overall and have a lot to build off of in the future,” he said.
Edwards-Jenks, who will be SGA’s vice president of student affairs beginning in July, served as director of off-campus initiatives for the Student Affairs committee.
SGA worked closely with the Office of Off-Campus Student Services, said Christopher Geddes, a community ambassador for the department. Geddes is tasked with keeping more off-campus students involved in university activities.
He said the survey was inspired by ones used by other universities in the country, and said he’s mostly pleased with Northeastern’s first attempt at it.
“It’s a great first step for students to use, but we need more responses,” Geddes said. “That’s something I know we’ll be able to get in years to come, but this is essentially a trial.”
Geddes said the survey originally included only a rental agency evaluation, with an option to include landlord feedback.
“We only went with landlords that received enough feedback,” Geddes said. “We have not decided how that will happen in years to come. That’s up in the air for the next survey in the fall, and something we’ll work on over the summer.”
Edwards-Jenks said Northeastern is working with the Boston Area Student Life Coalition, a group of representatives from five Boston schools, to advocate the needs of off-campus students in the city. The eventual goal is to use surveys conducted across Boston to make a database all students can use.
“Right now, we’re working with schools like Boston College and Suffolk University to create one database for students,” he said, adding that Boston College will be launching a similar survey next week.
Edwards-Jenks said he’s heard of interest in the survey from a number of third parties.
“These landlords own properties all over the city,” he said. “They don’t just rent to Northeastern students, so there’s a lot of potential for this.”
Part of the process has been to try bringing off-campus students closer into the university fold, Edwards-Jenks said. He said he’s planning to work closely with Student Body President-Elect Michael Sabo in the fall to work on involving off-campus students more, an element of Sabo’s campaign pledges.
“It’s important to make off-campus students feel important and it’s important to make them aware of what they’re responsible for and what landlords are responsible for,” Edwards-Jenks said. “The more we can educate the better we can make the off-campus living experience.”
The full results of the survey are available online, at www.sga.neu.edu.
