A resolution supporting the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act passed on its second reading during the Associated Students Inc. Senate meeting Wednesday.
The legislation, represented in House of Representatives Bill 1327 and Senate Bill 705, allows donations made to nonprofit collegiate housing, such as fraternities and sororities, to be used to improve living conditions for students. Nonprofit housing organizations would be entitled to tax deductions as a result.
“The act will encourage the construction of new off-campus not-for-profit housing, which removes the dangerous risks to students from hazards in older facilities,” Senator-at-large Diana Phan said via email. “This would keep college housing more affordable for our students and help them through this rough economic time.”
More than 150 students at Cal State Long Beach live in nonprofit student housing that is not university-owned, according to a summary of the resolution proposed by ASI Vice President Stephen Thomas and Phan.
The summary also states that about 40 percent of full-time dependent students live on campus, another 40 percent live off-campus and 20 percent live with their parents.
Greek housing, which is not university-owned, is the largest non-profit student housing market.
The resolution summary said the act would make college “more affordable at no cost to taxpayers by offering a housing alternative less expensive than University housing,” because a large percentage of these students struggle with the high costs of living on campus.
The act would allow collegiate housing to install vital equipment such as fire sprinklers, smoke detectors, and alarm systems.
The resolution cites economic downturn and decreased state funding in the future as reasons to support the legislation.