An ordinance to give enforcement officers more tools to deal with overcrowded off-campus housing at Tufts University has passed its first reading.

A new ordinance has been advanced to a second reading by the Medford City Council that would give the city’s code enforcement office a new tool in combating overcrowding in off-campus housing units close to the Tufts University campus.

The ordinance, similar to housing ordinances passed in Boston and Somerville in prior years, would require Tufts to send the Medford City Clerk a list of all of the addresses that are occupied by their off-campus students.

The list would not include names, as some council members were concerned about, but would only include the addresses of the students and the number of occupants at those addresses. The goal, according to councilor John Falco, is to give the city’s code enforcement officers some help in identifying housing units that are housing too many occupants.

Medford has a local zoning ordinance that only allows up to three unrelated persons to occupy the same housing unit. Falco said that the issue had come to the council’s attention from concerned community members around the university.

"Overcrowding in the Hillside neighborhood has been a major issue for Tufts students for years," Falco said. "It could get very unruly at times. The neighbors had been having to deal with these issues for years and an ordinance like this would help protect the neighbors and the neighborhood."

Currently, the city’s enforcement office only has two full-time code enforcement officers. Council vice president Michael Marks and president Richard Caraviello both brought up the need for another code enforcement officer and planned to address the issue at the time of the next budget.

Should the ordinance pass its third reading (either at the Feb. 28 or March 7 meeting of the City Council), the ordinance will become official, and Tufts will have 45 days from the start of the new semester to get the list to City Hall.