San Francisco teachers could get rent relief with planned housing projects
The school district is struggling to retain teachers
The San Francisco Board of Education took a big step on Wednesday toward providing a significant number of its teachers with housing as rents costs pose more and more of a burden to educators.
"The passing of this educator housing resolution will increase our ability to retain the best educators in California and benefit our students for decades to come," the school district's Commissioner Faauuga Moliga said in a statement. "I'm especially proud of how this resolution became reality. Through the collaboration of District Staff, United Educators, the Council of Community Housing Organizations, Housing Accelerator Fund and Mayor's Office, we were able to create a policy that can become a model for how we develop Educator Housing moving forward."
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The resolution's goal is to build at least 550 units of affordable educator housing by 2030. The school district wants to enable teachers to live in the area where they teach. Right now, many teachers are crowded out by skyrocketing rent prices and forced to commute as many as five hours a day.
The district needs about 3,600 teachers each year and faces an attrition rate of roughly 10 percent. The district is already planning to create 134 rental units for a small fraction of its educators, but the project is still under review.
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The San Francisco Unified School District's resolution to add more than 500 affordable educator housing units comes after the city's voters passed two propositions: Proposition A dedicates $20 million for educator housing, and Proposition E rezones school district properties to enable such projects.
City residents have faced rising costs of living and increased homelessness.