I agree, however if you are not street smart you will get mugged.
I think white, sheltered suburban kids are an easy target because they
have no clue about the city.

I grew up at 20th and Diamond and I can tell you, what they are saying is true. But it isnt just that the student population has grown around Temple. It is also that some of the resources (clinics, public assistance services, etc) that serve the low income/poor residents are continually closing their doors. Therefore, many of the residents are forced to relocate.

Usually when the residents leave, no one replaces them and the housing delcines. The city owns much of it so they sell it at a really low price. Developer comes in, buys it, prices it so high so that residents cant afford it.

My cousin would prey on white suburban kids because of that.

I would dissent. I had the same question when I started investing in around Temple.

Not having a car and taking the bus from New York, I walked the Temple area for a year on a weekly basis. I did a lot of research, asked students, talked to people in the temple housing office... and turns out there is no clear cut boundary.

The boundaries are blurry.

My experience:

In August 2006 I bought a house on French between 16th & 17th... (technically outside the northern boundary) finished renovating it in January 2007. The house was on the market only for a week before it was snatched up by students. I must have received over 50 e-mails from Temple students inquiring about the house. I am now getting a positive cashflow of 1600 Dollar per month (it is a 4 bedroom 2 bath).

I then bought anouther shell on 18th and French. The house is about to be finished, I advertised in Craigslist a month ago. It is an 8 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 3 kitchen dorm style house. I advertised it at 400 per month per room. Again, I received about 30 to 40 e-mails in the first 15 days.

Obviously, my experience tells me students are willing to go beyond the 17th/diamond/cecil b moore boundaries.

I think it's Princeton Review that says that Temple is this year's #1 most diverse school in the nation this year, which does not surprise me. Since they are really diverse to begin with, I think there's a good chance that students on their own are going to pick a place based primarily on income. Race will not be as big a factor in these cases I would guess. Such a wide diversity could be a major factor for unclear boundaries and unclear patterns because maybe there is no boundary or pattern to look for.

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Has anyone (students or landlords) run into a situation where a rental property was shut down and students were forced to leave because there were more than 3 unrelated people living in a house?

I have had license and inspection tell me i needed to rezone as a boarding house and get hard wire fire alarm

Are there many students living south of campus, say between Girard and Spring Garden?

How many bedrooms does the house have? Did you get it rezoned yet? If so, how long did it take? They didn't slap a cease and desist order on you?

no I was told to apply for zoning and get the process started for fire alarm. I think it is an attempt to get money because they just went after me because they no students are in the house. and it is four bedrooms.