New York Town Outlaws Roommates

Critics say the move will hurt folks in tough economic times

A town in upstate New York is taking the bold measure of outlawing roommates in single-family homes in residential neighborhoods, much to the chagrin of twenty-somethings in the vicinity among other potentially aggrieved parties.

Local press reports on Watertown City Council's decision, by a vote of three to two, to no longer allow unmarried and unrelated folks to live together in single-family homes. The impetus for the move came after one area resident complained that her neighbor was living with his fiance and two roomies, and didn't want the arrangement to become commonplace. Upon gathering enough signatures to give her preference a hearing, the town's powers-that-be collectively came down on her side, claiming to want to preserve the character of the community.

But one dissenting council member, Teresa Macaluso, expressed her problem with the new law:

"All we're doing is hurting the people who live in this community," she said, citing tough economics times and the harm to returning soldiers - many of whom need roommates - and same-sex couples the law would bring.

Via Reason and Your News Now.

Could you support a move to outlaw roommates in single-family homes in your town?

[Food4thoughts]

I have seen this done in a couple of "college towns"

[Real4WheelDrv]

Hey, if I had to leave my apartment and someone would let me move in with them so I could avoid living with my parents again, more power to em.

[Fishbone345]

Crap legislation. Absolute BS.

[Denizen_Kate]

Agreed. Since when does any government in this country have the right to say who can live with who?

[Fishbone345]

@Denizen_Kate if the Right had their way, they'd do it all the time. I love all the posters in this thread talking about the "Evil Left" in this deal. Yah, because its so different than DOMA.

[harold_lloyd]

This isn't as simple as it seems.

Think of 5 or 6 guys living next door who think they live in a frat house. That could be pretty bad for the neighborhood.

[Real4WheelDrv]

And the cops can be called/complaints filed with the city, and they can be evicted if need be. I have to be on the side of the roommates in this case, if only because the complaints leveraged by the other person are vague. There was no indication that there was any disturbances etc. For whatever reason, it just offended this person's sensibilities. On the other hand, for the majority of the town council to rule against them, there had to have been SOMETHING going on that the article doesn't mention.

[blue_yahoo]

Would you have the same stance if it was 5 to 6 young girls living next door who like to sunbathe in bikini's?

[WMCOL]

There are laws against public nuisance and disturbing the peace and tranquility of a neighborhood. 5 or 6 guys livng together are not exempt from the law.

[Fishbone345]

@blue_yahoo Is there any way we could legislate that only this situation can apply?

[blue_yahoo]

@Fishbone345 In this day and age seems just about anything can be legislated:)

[DARSB]

How living arrangements are someone else's business isn't clear to me, nor the proper role of government in regulating those private arrangements. By default, I'm not in favor of this sort of busybody legislation.

[Knightkore]

I actually agree....

[kramresim1]

Many Towns limit more than three unrelated adults, but I do not agree with a total ban on roommates.

[Medicinebow]

There's no limit to the nonsense coming out of NY.

[AlexMIA]

How any level of government can tell a home owner who they can or can't rent their place to is beyond me. As long as they are not destructive and pay the rent I wouldn't see the problem.

[GedankPol]

New York ought to change it's motto from "The Empire State" to either "The Nanny State" or "The Umpire State" for trying to micromanage the lives of its residents.

[Denizen_Kate]

"The Umpire State" - good one.:)

[Food4thoughts]

What about gay couples who can't legally wed?

[jamie91]

They can in New York.

[Food4thoughts]

@jamie91
Problem solved...guess I need to brush up on my same sex marriage states :-/

[jamie91]

@Food4thoughts I hear you, it's a week by week thing these days. I have a vested interest, otherwise I probably wouldn't know.

[Arumizy]

And the nanny state expands.

[Realthinker]

Sharing a home or apartment could be the only thing keeping a person from becoming homeless. Yes, there is always the possibility that some residents might behave like frat boys, but anyone can throw a party with similar results. I have no problem with restrictions that limit the number of residents to the number of bedrooms in the home.

[DerivePI]

Explain to me how this would be enforced? I want my town to outlaw stupid politicians.

[culinary]

This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

[NormalFlora]

Legislate against the bad behavior, NOT the living arrangements.

[fistv]

This is typical of Watertown NY, when I was stationed at Drum we had to put up with quite a bit of BS from the town against soldiers, though they were always happy to take our money, we were the only thing keeping it alive. When it was exclusively a National Guard camp the town all but died in the winter except for the occasional unit coming up there for winter training. About the only good thing I can think of was when they built the mall with real theaters, luckily it was on the other side of 81...

[thatgirl]

The power to legislate is obviously in the wrong hands.

[BelinKS]

That's ridiculous! In these tough economic times, roommates are needed to get by. When I was 18 I was renting a house in a residential neighborhood with 3 other young women. I was a was a senior in high school and the other 3 were in college. We all had jobs. We were too busy to bother anyone. This option was more affordable than apartments and gave us room not to be tripping over each
other. The rent and utilities split 4 ways was much more affordable. It also kept us in a safer area. How would this woman think about it if it was her daughter trying to stay safe and save money? I think a lawsuit is in order to overturn this city counsel overstepping their bounds. In the original article, the people she was complaining about got grandfathered in. HA! Serves her right! Now they just need to get it overturned to protect future people that need room mates to make it.

[Fitz]

That is the problem with democrats and republicans. More control and less freedom.

[Litdes]

Wow, that's a law without a rational basis. I'm even certain this is constitutional.