More California districts providing affordable housing for teachers and employees

The Jefferson Union High School District's affordable housing apartment complex for teachers and other district employees offers rental rates at half the average cost for the area, and was filled to capacity immediately upon opening in May 2022.Just south of San Francisco, several school districts in San Mateo County have taken steps to address the soaring living costs facing teachers and other staff members by building new affordable housing units exclusively for district employees. 

In the Jefferson Union High School District (JUHSD), average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Daly City area was as high as $2,800 per month in recent years, while the median home price hovered around $1 million. In a 2017 survey of JUHSD employees, 35% of respondents said they planned on leaving in the next five years specifically due to the cost of housing, and the district typically experienced a 25% annual staff turnover rate. 

Opening new doors 
In May 2022, JUHSD opened the doors of a new 122-unit apartment complex for teachers and other district employees, offering rental rates at about 50% below the market rate, which means a one-bedroom unit is roughly $1,400 a month.  

The building features rooms where teachers can collaborate or find a quiet workspace, and a playroom adjacent to a laundry facility with a two-way window that allows parents to supervise young children while washing and drying clothes. In addition, a large community room that’s available to host parties and other events can be reserved at no cost.  

Two years later, there are currently no staff vacancies across the district, and about a quarter of all district employees are now housed in the apartment complex, with a wait list of 30 to 40 employees looking to move in.  

Community impact 
District leaders were pleasantly surprised by the level of interest and overwhelmedJUHSD Board Trustee Andy Lie says the apartment complex has had significant positive impacts across the district. by the enthusiastic response. “We’ve been really successful at retaining critical staff,” reports JUHSD School Board Trustee Andy Lie, who says the apartments have made a significant impact. Lie says he has seen teachers living in the new complex be able to give up second jobs they had previously taken on to afford living expenses, and instead be able to devote any extra time to coaching a sports team or leading extracurricular activities at the district. 

Providing teachers with affordable housing options has made the district more appealing as an employer, according to Lie. JUHSD is the lowest funded of the three high school districts in San Mateo County. “Knowing that our ability to generate additional revenue was limited, we needed come up with a creative solution to be able to attract and retain staff, considering that other districts in our county were paying $15,000 to $20,000 a year more for most positions,” he says.  

Voters approved a $33 million bond in 2018 to build the apartment complex, and the district’s board of trustees established a nonprofit, the Educational Housing Corporation, to oversee management of the property. 

A growing issue across California 
Other districts in the area, as well as those across the state, have pursued similar projects. In early August, the neighboring Jefferson Elementary School District in San Mateo County opened a 56-unit apartment complex next to one of its schools to house 56 to 70 K-8 district employees, while in 2021, the leaders of Los Angeles USD announced they had begun exploring affordable housing options for school system teachers and staff.  

Nearly $500 million was approved in the 2020 state budget to fund more affordable housing initiatives for teachers, while State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has been promoting using tax credits to fund these projects.  

Thurmond announced a new state initiative in July 2024 to add 2.3 million new housing units for the education workforce by developing land owned by California’s local education agencies, with some 75,000 acres considered developable for housing. “California’s housing crisis is undeniable, but it is not unsolvable,” Thurmond said in the announcement. “I believe that California has enough resources and ingenuity to solve this, and the data shows that California’s schools have the land to make this happen.” 

While California has the highest average U.S. teacher salary at $95,160—compared to $66,397 nationwide—it also has the highest average home price for any state other than Hawaii, at $750,709.  

Supporting both teachers and students 
Despite the steep price of homes in San Mateo County and surrounding areas, JUHSD is still encouraging teachers to consider buying property. The district invited a local real estate agent to conduct home-buying classes to help educate residents of the school-owned apartment complex about the costs of homeownership.  

“WeJefferson Union High School District opened the doors of its new affordable housing complex in May 2022, which now houses about one quarter of the district's employees. are a smaller district with just under 500 employees and nearly 4,000 students,” Lie explains. “There’s a strong sense of community in our schools. People enjoy working for us, and the fact that now that there’s more staff stability and less turnover, we’re able to focus more on building up our curriculum. We’re also able to do a lot more work with regards to equity and addressing opportunity gaps.”  

Although there are no current plans to build more affordable housing, the district plans to use excess school-owned land for other purposes to generate more revenue, which Lie says can be used toward helping raise teacher salaries.  

“I’m happy to see education workforce housing being built anywhere, because our children simply need the best from educators, and when they are struggling with housing insecurity, they cannot be at their best,” Lie says. 

Bruce Shutan is a contributor to DATIA K12 and a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon.