> I would be somewhat nervous that undergrads may tear the place apart. [...] I have witnessed firsthand how destructive undergrads can be to the places they live.
I've known a few "student housing" landlords, at a (supposedly) highly prestigious university. These things need to be sold, like mobile homes. When the student leaves the university, they are free to resell it. Or pay to have the remains of it hauled off to the dump.
Though as the article more-or-less points out, the real issue is finding the vast acreage you'd need to actually set up a meaningful number of these things. Which gets into issues of zoning, infrastructure, and NIMBY's - just like any other at-scale housing construction in America.
