"I think I would say I'm hurt," Helen Potkalesky said.

She and her husband have lived in their West Hamilton Street town house for 20 years, and so have many of their neighbors. But rents have increased too much for many of them to afford, and she said they feel forced to leave.

Potkalesky of 205 W. Hamilton St. was paying $425 a month for her two-bedroom, two-story town house. The new owner, John McWhirter, raised the rent to $595 for current residents for next year -- $30 less than what new renters will be charged.

McWhirter said the town houses were being rented way below market value. Two-bedroom town houses can be rented throughout the borough for between $450 and $700 a month.

Raising the rent is necessary to cover the costs of correcting code violations, such as repairing the wooden decks on each unit, and of building an additional bedroom in the basements.

"Nobody is being forced out of anything," McWhirter said, adding he is giving current renters first priority to the units and charging them less.

But the market price is too high for Connie Pilato, who lives at 209 W. Hamilton St.

"I can't afford that. That's a lot!" Pilato said about the new rent. After living in the town house for six years, she will move in with her son in June.

"I'm used to a house," Pilato said, adding she will miss her neighbors and living on her own.

Some residents feel an additional bedroom makes the town houses more suitable for students than for families or senior citizens.

"Nobody but an undergrad would want that," said Bill Keisling of 207 W. Hamilton St.

When students rented the town houses before, Keisling said he would hear them "at 4 in the morning playing thumper or drinking games." The current residents have maintained the property and created a stable neighborhood, he said.

McWhirter said he is not trying to attract only students to the properties, but he is not going to exclude students either.

"I'm not discriminating or concerned about anybody," he said.

Potkalesky said she has never been bothered by students as neighbors or as citizens of the borough. She has always felt that students were just like anyone else, she said.

"I love students, but I don't want six or seven (living) on either side of me," Potkalesky said.