During the session, audience members requested a document they could use to combat myths about EWH. In response, CSBA has created “Education Workforce Housing in California: Myths and Facts” to allow local educational agencies to demonstrate the benefits of EWH and dispel myths. A sample of the document follows, and the full document can be found at csba.org/workforcehousing under Projects and Case Studies.
“School boards often encounter skepticism when they first broach the topic of building workforce housing. Now that there are eight successful developments across the state, we know that most concerns about education workforce housing do not come to pass,” said Greg Francis, CSBA’s EWH project manager. “We used our conversations with board members, teachers, staff and residents of EWH developments to put together a resource that uses evidence to counteract the concerns that communities not familiar with this concept have. We hope our members find this helpful in educating their communities on the benefits that EWH developments bring to local educational agencies, students and communities.”
Supplying housing is not part of the mission of school districts or county offices of education, collectively known as LEAs.
FACT Multiple surveys and studies have shown that many teachers and other LEA staff leave their employers — or the education sector altogether — because they simply cannot afford to live near where they work. This leads to high turnover for beginning teachers especially, which causes disruption to the schools and students where they work. Research shows that retaining qualified teachers and staff has a positive impact on student outcomes, so the housing crisis makes workforce housing a clear part of LEAs’ educational mission.
According to estimates from the report Education Workforce Housing in California: Developing the 21st Century Campus, California LEAs own 150,000 acres of land — approximately 75,000 of which could be used for purposes including developing education workforce housing. By building housing on this land, LEAs can offer housing at reasonable rents to their employees. This reduces staff turnover, makes it easier to recruit new educators and allows educators to live in the same communities as their students — all factors that contribute to student success.
F Several school districts in California have already built successful housing developments for their staff, providing a template for other LEAs to follow. These districts offer clear lessons on how to plan for, develop and manage EWH without detracting from their core mission of preparing students for success in the world.
The experiences of these LEAs show that the bulk of the work is in the early stages of planning. The LEA’s primary job is to keep their communities informed and hire qualified consultants, including development advisors, architects and property managers. Once a development is approved, the LEA should play a very minor role. Specifically, LEAs do not directly take on the technical work of development and construction, nor should they engage directly in property management.
F Thanks to funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, CSBA and its partners are conducting research to evaluate how workforce housing affects teacher and staff retention and recruitment. Those findings will be published in a report that is anticipated to be released in early 2025.
Districts that have built EWH report that it has significantly improved staff retention. For example, Jefferson Union High School District in Daly City began the 2022–23 academic year fully staffed for the first time in at least a decade after their complex opened for residents in early 2022.
F LEAs can allow all their employees to apply to live in newly built workforce housing developments. Units are allocated by income or lottery, depending on local eligibility priorities.
Educators who aren’t interested in workforce housing still benefit, as district-built homes can reduce staff turnover. This means less of a need to continually orient new staff to schools and help them adjust to each site’s culture and procedures.
F CSBA does not advise LEAs to use general fund dollars to pay for education workforce housing. Most districts only use money earmarked for facilities to pay for the planning and construction of these developments.
F All you need to get started is collective will. Boards can pass resolutions, communities can meet to support their educators, educators can get together to outline their needs, district staff can suggest the best sites. It’s true that after your LEA gets started, you will have to find resources to pay for a feasibility study. But the early studies can be broken into steps that don’t require a large capital outlay from the start.
