“It’s their right to live in a single-family neighborhood,” Wernimont said, “not to mention you’re stealing money out of my pocket. It’s taking one quarter of my income as a landlord.”

Abraham noted that the city of Ames, a university community like Cedar Falls, has had a three-person maximum for rental properties for years. Gray said that any financial losses experienced by a landlord could be recouped by simply raising the rent.

“Well, that's easier said than done,” said real estate agent Bruce Wingert. “Tenants, the reason they want to live with four, is because that's affordable. That's the key here. Affordable. Rents are going to have to go up to compensate a drop from four to three. That is going to be a struggle in itself.”

Wernimont concurred.

“College kids are already broke as it is,” he said. "I'm not some outrageous capitalist who only cares about his bottom line. I care about this city. And I think this will hurt the city, and it will hurt one-third of our population, which are the students."

The task force will not vote on whether or not Abraham's idea should be forwarded to the City Council for approval until a future meeting.