San Francisco teachers are struggling to afford to rent or own a home in the city. City officials hope to change that. They are earmarking $44 million to construct the first-ever teacher housing development in San Francisco. The housing development will be affordable to public school teachers who work in the area.
An area in the city known as Outer Sunset will have existing property bulldozed in order to build 130 to 150 rental units for teacher housing. The apartments are expected to be priced below market rates and to be ready by 2022, the
San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The San Francisco Unified School District’s average teacher pay ranked number 528 out of 821 school districts in the state, despite the city’s housing being the priciest, the
San Francisco Chroniclereported in an investigative report last year. Also in that report, the
Chronicle reported the extremes teachers were going to live in the city they work, including renting the dining rooms of other people’s apartment units, driving for Uber after school days to earn more money, renting in-law units without kitchens, or even living in homeless shelters. Some teachers commute for several hours to find more affordable housing elsewhere, while others were forced to quit.
"I am disturbed as anyone to have a teacher who's homeless," Ed Lee, San Francisco’s mayor, told the
Chronicle.
Rents in the city continue to skyrocket. The average rent of a one-bedroom in San Francisco tops $3,300 a month, according to Rent Jungle.
Lee’s proposal to construct the teacher housing development still must receive support of the city school district and the Board of Education to move forward.
Other cities have done similar projects to aid teachers too. In Newark, N.J., a mixed-use development will contain three charter schools, 65,000 square feet of retail space, and more than 200 apartments for teachers. More than half of the residential units at Newark’s Teachers Village have been completed so far. Other school districts in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Asheville, N.C., have constructed teacher housing facilities to help educators be able to afford to live in the city they work. But the developments are often unable to accommodate everyone who wants a spot, Business Insider reports.
Source: “Mayor Comes Up With $44 Million for S.F.’s First Teacher Housing,” San Francisco Chronicle (May 11, 2017) and “San Francisco Is so Expensive, the City Is Spending $44 Million so its Teachers Won’t Be Homeless,” BusinessInsider.com (May 15, 2017)
