COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Since 1939, The City of College Station has enforced the "No More than Four" rule ordinance over student housing. City leaders claim that no more than four unrelated people, notably college students, cannot live in what the city classifies as a "single family home."
In more recent months, many College Station citizens have voiced their concerns over the growing number of homes in violation of this ordinance. Code Enforcement officers are the ones making sure that homes follow the ordinance and keep track of the number of violations within the city.
A report presented before the College Station City Council on Thursday, April 14, found that there were 180 ordinance violations in 2022. That number is considerably higher than 2021, where only 13 cases were found.
At the Thursday meeting, many College Station leaders raised questions about the number of violations recorded and asked how staff was working to rectify the problem.
"Is this happening because there's not enough product to meet the needs of the students at Texas A&M?" asked councilmember, Mark Smith.
"We're going to be able to protect working class and young people's housing and not disrupting their lifestyle," said Mayor Pro Tem, Dennis Maloney.
Bryan Woods, the City Manager for College Station, said that the prosecution of those who violate the ordinance is often complicated.
"You can't just pass the eye test. You can see pictures and think you know what's going on. I think people interpret that as the city doesn't care but, specifically in this case, this is a criminal offense," said Woods.
Woods said that he is working with code enforcement officers to continue to monitor the number of violations going forward.