According to Black Enterprise, there is a rising housing shortage at the HBCUs in the Atlanta University Center, and administrations are rushing to find solutions for students who don't have a bed on campus.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that as rents climb in the Georgian capital, universities like Morehouse lack enough accommodation. Due to the scarcity and rising expense of housing, there was a student protest last fall, but Black Enterprise reported that there was little long-term improvement.
Although donations are flooding in, Innis stated that "no renovations are happening."
There is room on campus to build housing quarters, but they opt not to, claimed Innis.
As more well-known HBCUs anticipate an increase in applications over the coming three years, the housing problem will only worsen.
According to Briana Prout, a senior at Spelman, "They need to network more with apartments in the Atlanta area, make it more of an option for students to be able to pay for their rent through tuition, because not everybody's parents or families can afford to pay monthly rent out of pocket," the AJC adds.
"We need to take some of this space and build dorms high up," said Davida Morgan Washington, a mother of a Morehouse student and the head of the college's Parent Council. "When you start to think about Clark Atlanta, Morehouse, Spelman, we need to take some of this space."
Washington continued, "That needs to be a fundraising priority so we can house all these students we don't wanna turn away."