Colorado School District Uses Affordable Housing As Recruitment Tactic
Harrison School District 2 in Colorado Springs has announced plans to construct affordable homes for its employees, according to reports. The district intends to build 20 duplexes, each covering 352 square feet, on a one-acre parcel of land at Mountain Vista Community School.
The estimated cost of the project is $6 million, and the homes will be available for rent at $825 per month.
This initiative aims to address the affordable housing faced by many teachers in Colorado Springs. The average rent is $1,720 per month, while the average home price is $523,456, as reported by Forbes Advisor. With a starting salary of $47,545 for new teachers in the district, many find it challenging to secure suitable housing without resorting to multiple roommates.
The construction timeline for the housing project will depend on successful fundraising efforts. However, Harrison School District 2 is not the first in the nation to undertake such an initiative. Other school districts, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, Santa Clara Unified School District, and Jefferson High School District, have previously built employee housing to address similar challenges.
Mike Claudio, the assistant superintendent of personnel support services, highlighted the difficulties faced by new teachers in finding affordable housing. He shared with the school board, "Can I live in Colorado Springs? And I say you can, but you have to have a roommate or two or three in order to make a paycheck go as far as possible."
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A survey conducted by the 2022 EdWeek Research Center showed 11% of teachers believe that subsidized housing would make them more likely to remain in the teaching profession. This highlights the importance of providing affordable housing options to attract and retain quality educators.
The California School Boards Association, released research in 2022, which showed that every county in California possessed developable land owned by educational agencies. This suggests that the trend of school districts providing housing for their employees is gaining traction nationwide.