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December 20, 2005
Finding housing help for teachersDuring the dot-com boom in the Silicon Valley area of California, housing prices spiked, and many school districts began to lose teachers seeking better pay and more affordable housing. Just when they were trained, they would leave for other districts where they could live more comfortably and closer to their jobs, the New York Times reports. And even after the tech bubble burst, housing prices never really came down. The median price is $714,250. Ouch.
The Times tells how the Santa Clara Unified School District tackled the issue: It hired an apparently good-hearted developer that built an upscale apartment complex for nearly no overall profit margin. Now teachers pay about $1,000 per month in rent when the going rate is about $3,000. The result: The housing is helping retain teachers. According to the district, new recruits in general had a 24 percent turnover, but teachers who moved into the apartment complex had only an 8 percent attrition rate. Great piece.
Another example includes the efforts of the city of Alexandria, Va., which is planning to purchase an old apartment complex then sell it to a non-profit housing development organization that will then refurbish the property and turn it into "workforce housing," or apartments and condos that can be afforded on a city salary. Trust us. Housing in Alexandria ain't cheap. This sounds like a worthy effort. But a lot more needs to be done nationwide.
Posted December 20, 2005 5:10 PM
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