WILLIAMSBURG — City residents, landlords and students continued to voice their thoughts on the city’s proposed program for improving off-campus housing at a second public input session last Thursday.
The session, held at William & Mary’s Sadler Center, was about Rent Ready Williamsburg, a proposed voluntary certification program that’s designed to make off-campus housing near William & Mary better for both the local and student communities. It was one of three sessions planned to discuss the program with the community.
The Rent Ready program has been a city goal since 2021. It grew out of a work group that identified 27 concepts to address rental issues in the Williamsburg area, including affordability and occupancy.
Approval for the program depends on how a property scores on the program’s quality assessment, with a two-year transition period in place.
To qualify, landlords would need to meet criteria for both the interior and exterior of a property. Each requirement carries points, including an annual inspection, structural soundness, absence of health hazards — such as asbestos or mold — and properly installed appliances. Landlords must also provide at least two of four amenities: 24-hour maintenance, trash collection, routine grass cutting or utilities included in rent.
To earn Rent Ready certification, a property must score at least an 80. Properties that maintain a score of 95 or higher for four consecutive years may increase occupancy from three unrelated tenants to four. Properties already approved for four tenants can retain that occupancy if they join Rent Ready within two years and maintain a score of 95.
Students would be required to complete an online course and landlords would be required to take two education courses to earn certification and a continuing course each year to stay enrolled.
Missing courses would cost landlords points, while if a renter failed to complete the course, the landlord would lose Rent Ready status, which both students and landlords took issue with at Thursday’s meeting. Tenants cannot be evicted solely for failing to finish the course, though they would be ineligible to occupy a Rent Ready property until the course is completed. The course is optional for owner-occupants.
The program is endorsed by both Williamsburg and William & Mary, and students and families would be encouraged to consider only Rent Ready-certified properties. However, students aren’t required to use or enroll in the program.
At the latest session, both students and landlords raised concerns about the four-person occupancy allowance. One student asked whether a four-person dwelling would lose its approval if it didn’t join the program.
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“If they voluntarily don’t participate in Rent Ready or don’t want to keep their four-person (approval), they would lose it,” confirmed Williamsburg Planning Director Teyva Griffin, who has been leading the informational sessions.
Griffin said the city doesn’t believe the policy would be detrimental as it would be easy for existing four-person homes to transition to the program.
Another student asked why the allowance was capped at four occupants instead of being based on the number of bedrooms, arguing that a bedroom-based limit could ease costs for both landlords and students. Griffin responded that the program aims to balance the needs of all stakeholders while protecting the character of single-family neighborhoods.
“What I’m hearing from students is that they want increased occupancy,” said Angela Bailey, founder and principal broker of One Door Realty, which rents to students. “They want to be able to have the bedrooms filled so that they’re not having to have (ghost) tenants and trying to hide behind a system that’s not working.”
Bailey argued the proposal is punitive to landlords already meeting requirements, particularly those with four-person properties, and suggested that following the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act could create a fairer outcome for both landlords and tenants.
William & Mary student body president Zoe Wang worried that landlords, especially those with three-person properties, have no reason to enroll. She currently lives in an off-campus, four-person dwelling.
“I think the four-year (eligibility) requirement and the (penalties) for landlords in place will not incentivize them to enroll,” Wang said. “The ‘one strike and you’re out’ policy I don’t think is right here.”
Violations were a major concern for landlords. Under the proposed ordinance, founded complaints — such as noise, litter, or building and fire code violations — would each deduct 10 points from a landlord’s assessment score. The current four-person occupancy ordinance includes a similar rule, revoking the increased occupancy certificate after repeated violations.
Lifelong Williamsburg resident and current landlord Trisha Farinholt criticized Rent Ready’s version of the policy, saying it imposes unequal consequences on landlords compared with tenants. She echoed a student’s concern that repeated 10-point demerits could quickly push landlords below the 80-point threshold needed for certification.
“I believe if young folk are old enough to sign a lease, they are old enough to follow the law,” she said. “Why should (the landlord) be punished?”
The last public input session will be held on Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. at the Stryker Center.
Haidyn Brockelman, haidyn.brockelman@gmail.com
