Pass the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2009

(H.R. 1547/S.781) Make College MoreAffordable by Preserving Not-for-Profit Student Housing

Making College More AffordableMeans Keeping Student Housing Costs Under Control.  The highcost of college is a threat to educational equality and Americancompetitiveness.  A quirk in thetax laws allows colleges and universities to use charitable contributions tobuild and maintain student housing while preventing other not-for-profitstudent housing entities from doing the same thing. 

Now is the Time to ProvideEquitable Tax Treatment for All Not-For-Profit Student Housing.  There is no sound policy reasonfor distinguishing between charitable contributions made to colleges anduniversities for infrastructure improvements and gifts made to othernot-for-profit entities such as fraternities and sororities for the benefit ofsimilarly situated students.  The Collegiate Housing andInfrastructure Act of 2009 (H.R. 1547/S. 781) (CHIA) erasesthis disparity, allowing tax deductible contributions to not-for-profit studenthousing entities such as fraternity and sorority foundations to be used for thesame purposes that a college or university could use such contributions.  In the 110^thCongress, CHIA secured 210 sponsors in the house and 40 sponsors in the Senate.

One Out of EveryEight College Students Lives in Greek Housing.  Thehousing shortage would be even worse without fraternities and sororities, whoare the nation’s largest not-for-profit student landlords.  Fraternities and sororities providehousing for over 250,000 students each year at no cost to the hostinstitution.  This $3 billiondollar segment of the not-for-profit housing industry needs CHIA to become lawso it can fund safety and structural improvements.  Passing CHIA will help give more students access to safe andaffordable not-for-profit housing, which is usually less expensive thanuniversity residence halls and off-campus housing. 

We Must Improve Collegiate Housing Safety, Capacity and Energy Efficiency.  Life safety upgrades are the top challengefacing fraternal housing.  Onlyhalf of our housing has fire sprinklers so our smaller and older living spaceshave twice the injury rate of other campus fires and significantly higher ratesof property losses.  80% of fatalities in student housing firessince 2000 have occurred in off-campus housing such as fraternities andsororities.  Installing automaticsprinkler systems saves lives - there has never been a fire-related fatalityin fraternal housing that has sprinklers.  Given the age of our housing, there is a need to installmodern heating, cooling and electrical systems that are more energy efficient andenvironmentally friendly.  

Current Tax Laws Hinder Not-for-Profit Housing Access to Capital for Safety Upgrades. College towns such as Ames (IA), State College(PA), and Columbia (MO) are just some of the cities across the country thathave passed ordinances requiring not-for-profit student housing to close ifthey don’t retrofit fire sprinklers by a specific date.  Fraternity housing can be up to 100years old so retrofitting can cost as much as $200,000. These costs cannot bepassed along to current student tenants but the organizations often cannotraise the needed money to retrofit because the contributions are nottax-deductible.  If CHIA becomeslaw, these organizations can raise the funds needed to make their housing saferand better for future generations of students. 

CHIA will provideincentive for the generation of funding for capital and safety upgrades throughinfrastructure improvements and new construction. Over $1 billion incapital projects have been identified by Greek organizations at campuses acrossthe country. Private funds will create and maintain jobs for local plumbers,roofers, carpenters, electricians, contractors and other individuals working inthe suffering construction industry.

Passing the Collegiate House and Infrastructure Act(CHIA) would:

Ø   Make college more affordable witha minimal cost to taxpayers by offering a less expensive housingalternative.  The Committee onJoint Taxation scored the cost of CHIA at $148 million over ten years in 2009.

Ø   Encourage new charitablecontributions to improve current collegiate housing, therebypreserving and upgrading existing housing capacity and helping construct thenew housing needed to accommodate growing student populations.

Ø   Result in safer student housing by enabling fraternities andsororities to fund the installation of modern life safetyequipment such as fire sprinklers, smoke detectors, and alarm systems.

Ø   Create and maintain jobs relatedto capital construction and improvements. 

To become a sponsor of the Collegiate Housing andInfrastructure Act of 2009 contact JenniferPollack in Congresswoman Shelley Berkley’s office 225-5969 in the House orJennifer Cook in Senator Pat Roberts’ office 224-4774 in the Senate.