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Pictured above is a rendering of a newly opened 122-unit affordable workforce housing community for teachers and staff in Jefferson Union High School district (JUHSD). Located in the pricey San Francisco Bay area housing market and faced with a roughly 25% staff turnover rate, leaders at JUHSD decided they needed to take bold action—they became housing developers. Click to find out how this has helped attract and retain teachers and staff.
Pasadena’s public school are facing a crisis similar to what schools are facing in the Bay Area. Because salaries for teachers and staff in Pasadena are lower than in nearby districts, it is hard to attract and retain teachers and staff. Teachers and staff in the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) need (and deserve) raises. We at MHCH strongly support salary increases.
It is also clear that PUSD staff and teachers need affordable housing since many cannot afford to live where they work. The need is urgent. The average public school teacher salary in Pasadena was $62,000 in 2022. Average one-bedroom apartments rent for $3,000/month. Therefore, a teacher in Pasadena must pay nearly half of his or her income in rent to live in the city.
“Essential workers” (janitors, cafeteria workers, etc.) fare even worse. Their salaries range from around $36,00-$50,000/yr.
A survey in the 2023 PUSD Master Plan indicates that 66% of teachers support “housing assistance.” For years PUSD has been exploring ways to help teachers and staff to afford to live in Pasadena instead of having to commute long distances. A feasibility study has been completed that would create workforce housing on the campus of Roosevelt School, which was closed along with two other schools in 2019.
On Thursday, June 8, a special meeting of the PUSD board will consider the proposal to use the Roosevelt School campus for workforce housing for teachers and staff. If you want to help teachers and staff afford to live where they teach, please show up and speak out. The special meeting will take place at 6:00 pm at 351 S. Hudson St., Pasadena, in LB 236.
No one likes to see schools close, but the sad reality is that over half of Pasadena’s schools have closed due to declining enrollment. Campuses lie empty and are costly to maintain. That’s why workforce housing on school land makes sense.
PUSD proposes using bond money to help finance workforce housing, which cannot be used for salaries. But lower rents will help teachers and staff live closer to where they work.
Santa Clara Unified School District’s 70-unit Casa del Maestro reduced teacher attrition by two-thirds compared with other nearby districts.
Bay Area high school teacher Lisa Raskin moved out of a cramped apartment she was sharing with a roommate and into her own place, paying a deeply discounted $1,500 a month for a one-bedroom with expansive views within walking distance to work.
“I have a sense of community, which I think is more valuable than anything else,” said Raskin. “More districts really need to consider this model. I think it shows educators that they value them.”
Work force housing will help students as well as teachers. A Terner Center study found that the scarcity of affordable housing in California impacts the quality of K-12 education because public school teachers and employees often cannot live in the communities where they work. School districts then face challenges in recruiting and retaining staff, which creates instability that can lead to worsening outcomes for students and acute staffing shortages.
California lawmakers in 2016 made it easier for districts to finance and build workforce housing on school property, but some efforts have stalled over financing and residential pushback. Five workforce housing complexes currently exist in Los Angeles, Santa Clara and San Mateo county school districts.
Affordable housing, even for teachers and essential workers, invariably encounters resistance so we need to advocate for it. That’s why we hope you’ll join us on June 8th. To find out more, contact Bert@makinghousinghappen.org
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