Student Housing Insight

🎙️Episode Summary In this episode of the SHI News Wrap up, Host Wes Deese and Co-host Gretta Dare explores the biggest developments shaping the student housing industry, including The Scion Group's acquisition of Student Quarters, continued market consolidation, major public-private partnership (P3) projects, new development activity, and significant investment transactions. Hosts Wes Deese and Gr...

🎙️Episode Summary: Recorded live from the OPTECH conference floor, host Wes Deese sits down with Scott Manning, SVP of Operations at Article Student Living, to discuss his key takeaways from this year's conference. With more than 23 years of experience in student housing and nearly a decade at Article Student Living, Scott shares how OPTECH provides a valuable opportunity to evaluate vendors, expl...

🎙️Episode Summary: In this episode of the Student Housing Insight podcast, host Wes Deese brings together three marketing experts in a webinar style discussion to tackle what he calls "The New Marketing Playbook" — a forward-looking discussion on how the student housing industry must adapt to AI-driven search, generative engine optimization (GEO), and a rapidly evolving social media landscape. The...

🎙️Episode Summary: In this episode Host Wes Deese leads a panel of three student housing experts discussing strategies for attracting, managing, and retaining student residents — especially first-time renters. The conversation centers on the 19–21-year-old demographic, described as "adults in training with selective competence," and what that means for property management. Topics include proactive...

🎙️Episode Summary In this May 2026 wrap-up episode, host Wesley Deese and co-host Gretta Dare cover the most significant news stories, market data, and policy developments shaping the student housing industry. The episode opens with a major $910 million portfolio acquisition by Scion Group and Ares from Harrison Street, followed by a deep dive into declining international student enrollment and it...

🎙️Episode Summary In this combined March and April News Wrap-Up episode of the Student Housing Insight podcast, host Wes Deese and co-host Gretta Dare recap some of the biggest conversations shaping the student housing industry heading into the summer leasing season. Recorded on May 12, the episode covers insights and takeaways from Interface, national pre-leasing trends, operator sentiment around...

🎙️Episode Summary Live from the Interface Austin, Wes Deese speaks with Jim Sholders, Bryan Shelangoski, and Chris Johnson about the challenges shaping student housing operations today. The conversation covers talent recruitment and retention, rising expectations for leadership roles, and increasing competition for maintenance staff. The panel also examines declining enrollment trends, demographic...

🎙️ Episode Summary Recorded live at Student Housing Interface Conference 2026 at Austin, Texas this episode features SHI Ambassador Courtney Colegrove leading a series of fast-paced “Tough Talks” with top voices across the student housing industry. Through a mix of rapid-fire “this or that,” one-word reflections, and real-world scenario reactions, owner/operators and vendors share candid insights...

🎙️ Episode Summary In this episode of the Student Housing Insight Podcast, host Wesley Deese sits down with William Davis, Chief Development Officer and Managing Principal at Capstone Development Partners, and Johno Harris, Senior EVP at Lincoln Property Company. Recorded in-person in Atlanta, the conversation explores the recent acquisition of Capstone by Lincoln and what this powerful partnershi...

🎙️ Episode Summary In this episode, Wesley Deese sits down with Leah Raad, SVP of Operations, Leasing, and Asset Management at Maslow’s Campus Communities, to unpack what it really takes to build a student housing platform from the ground up. Fresh off the acquisition of Aspire San Marcos, Leah shares how Maslow’s approached launching operations with a clean slate—covering everything from selectin...

🎙️ Episode Summary: Wes Deese and Gretta Dare wrap up all the off-campus student housing news for February 2026. They cover upcoming industry conferences and major shifts in property management, including LV Collective formally bringing their operations in-house. The hosts break down the latest pre-leasing data from Yardi Matrix, comparing it against other data sources and discussing the current d...

🎙️Episode Summary: In this spring conference preview episode of the Student Housing Insight podcast, host Wesley Deese gives a comprehensive rundown of upcoming industry events. Wes discusses the value of attending these events for networking and education, whether you are a site-level manager, a C-suite executive, or a supplier partner. The episode features a special interview with Rich Kelley, w...

🎙️Episode Summary In this month’s wrap-up, host Wes Deese and co-host Gretta Dare welcome 2026 with a breakdown of the major shifts in the student housing industry rankings. Special guest Jason Fort, EVP at Asset Living, joins the show to discuss Asset Living’s historic rise to the number one spot on the Student Housing Business Top 25 Managers list, overtaking American Campus Communities. Jason s...

🎙️ Episode Summary: In this episode, host Wesley Deese is joined by Student Housing Insight Ambassador Courtney Colegrove from Core Spaces. They discuss Courtney's journey from resident assistant to the corporate side of student housing and the inspiration behind her new content project, "SHI Talks" (a cheeky play on "Shit Talks"). Recorded on-site at LeaseCon / TurnCon 2025, the episode features...

🎙️Episode Summary In this episode, recorded live from Lease Con / Turn Con in Charlotte, host Wesley Deese sits down with Dan Smith, co-founder of Verbaflo and host of the Housed podcast. While Dan is a familiar voice in the UK and European student housing sectors, he is making his debut in the US market with Verbaflo, an award-winning conversational AI platform designed specifically for student a...

🎙️Episode Summary In this episode, recorded live at the LeaseCon+TurnCon in Charlotte, host Wesley Deese moderates a candid panel with five college students about their off-campus housing experiences. The students share unfiltered feedback on the increasingly early timeline for signing leases—with some securing senior housing as early as their freshman year. The discussion covers the critical role...

🎙️Episode Summary In this wrap-up episode for November and December, Wes Deese and co-host Gretta Dare take a deep dive into the busy conference season and the latest industry news. The duo recaps Wes’s experience as an "influencer" at the OpTech conference in Las Vegas, including insights on prop-tech trends and the spectacle of the Sphere. They then shift focus to a detailed breakdown of LeaseCo...

🎧 Episode Summary In this episode, host Wesley Deese sits down with Teddy Abdelmalek from HH Redstone to discuss the current state of student housing operations following the recent Shop Talk Executive Summit and LeaseCon/TurnCon conferences. Teddy shares his unique professional journey, transitioning from a pre-med track and Resident Assistant (RA) role into a career in property management and b...

🎧Episode Summary In this episode, Student Housing Insight Ambassador Cody Hardy sits down with Tim Baldwin, attorney and owner of Property Management Law Solutions, for a deep dive into how landlord–tenant law has evolved in today’s post-COVID, AI-driven world. They unpack the foundational mistakes operators often make, the rise of tenant attorneys and class-action exposure, how AI is arming resi...

🎙️ Episode Summary In this monthly wrap-up, host Wes Deese and co-host Gretta Dare unpack the biggest developments shaping the student housing industry in October. From insights at the NMHC Student Housing Conference to major legislative wins in California’s student housing crisis, the episode covers market trends, AI in operations, and key company news. They discuss highlights from NMHC—including...

🎧 Episode Summary In this episode of Student Housing Insight, host Wes Deese sits down with Matt Walker, Global Head of Student Housing for Mapletree Investments, to trace his two-decade journey from leasing manager in Oklahoma to leading international student housing investments from London. Matt shares lessons learned across roles at EDR, CA Ventures, and now Mapletree, offering insight into ho...

📄 Episode Summary Host Wes Deese sits down with Dave Borsos and Matthew Berger from the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) to preview this fall’s lineup of major student housing conferences, including the NMHC Student Housing Conference, & OpTech. They unpack trends in capital markets, international student enrollment, and tax policy—and explore how technology and AI are shaping prop...

🎧Episode Summary: September was a busy month in the student housing world, and we’re unpacking it all in this special “wrap-up” edition of the Student Housing Insight Podcast. Host Wes Deese is joined once again by longtime co-host Gretta Dare, who returns with updates on her own new venture, Vitra Housing. Together, they dig into company shakeups, mergers, leasing season data, and how internatio...

🎧Episode Summary: In this episode, Wesley Deese sits down with Hannah Maruyama, co-founder of Degree Free, to explore how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are redefining higher education. The discussion centers on the growing number of young adults who are choosing alternative paths outside of traditional college—and what that means for student housing, property managers, and the broader industry. Hannah shar...

🎧Episode Summary: In this episode of the Student Housing Insight podcast SHI Ambassador and CORE Spaces’ Sr. Mgr of Sales & Stabilization, Sarah Maxson sits down with CORE Spaces’ President, Dan Goldberg, for a discussion exploring the integration of hospitality principles into student housing. Emphasizing user experience (UX), resident engagement, and innovative branding, Sarah and Dan share...