, the S.C. Supreme Court upheld a zoning ordinance addressing how many people can live in one house, ruling that it depends on local laws and zoning ordinances that limit the number of unrelated people who can share a home to three.
Former South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster had challenged the law, claiming that the zoning ordinance was unconstitutional. However, the court rejected McMaster’s argument in a 5-0 vote.
The decision aims to help residential areas throughout South Carolina prevent USC college students from renting and moving into homes typically meant for families. In many college towns, residential occupancy limits generally cap unrelated occupants at three to five people per dwelling unit, often just three or four. There are often complaints about students that require them to hire an underage drinking defense lawyer
McMaster argued that the court’s decision to use “broad police powers” will lead to an inevitable slump in the university real estate market. He said the ordinance violates the Constitution’s due process clause.
However, the court concluded that this ordinance is constitutional and aims to prevent the undesirable consequences and effects of “mass student congestion.” Cities often use local zoning ordinances to define a family or a single housekeeping unit as persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption, which is how they limit the number of unrelated persons who can live together. Even where those relationship-based rules are relaxed, applicable building codes, fire rules, and public health standards still set occupancy standards based on space and safety. By exercising this decision, the city hopes to harness the number of students piling up in single-family residences within city limits.
Through his company PJM Properties, McMaster owns property on Gregg Street in the University Hill neighborhood near USC.Danny Crowe, a Columbia lawyer representing the interests of the S.C. Municipal Association, said the ruling isn’t meant to be a broad ban on all unrelated people living together and that there will be exceptions, such as the elderly living with caregivers or young professionals living together. He added that the legality of multiple roommates or tenants in a single family house varies by local regulations and housing codes, so property owners and renters must ensure compliance before proceeding.