In recent years, several districts have scaled up their education workforce housing (EWH) efforts: Los Angeles Unified School District issued requests for proposals for multiple sites earlier this year; San Francisco and Palo Alto USDs are working on their second projects, and Santa Barbara USD has approved two projects.

Earlier this year, San Diego USD approved plans to add a total of 3,000 units for their employees — nearly triple the total number of EWH units currently open in the state. These units, spread over seven sites, would house around 10 percent of the district’s workforce, making it a true gamechanger for the district’s employees.

The success of LIVIA at Scripps Ranch, San Diego USD’s first workforce housing site, since its opening in fall 2023 gave the district a road map to follow and the confidence that if they build housing, employees will come. CSBA organized a tour of LIVIA at Scripps Ranch for one of its recent EWH workshops to learn from the example. Attendees were inspired by what they saw: pristine and spacious units, high-level shared amenities like a golf simulator and pool, and a STEAM Lab for the district on the same property.

The district employed an innovative “joint occupancy” model for LIVIA by leasing the site to a market-rate developer for $40 million for 66 years and negotiated construction of an educational building (the STEAM Lab) as well as use of 20 percent of the housing for their own staff. This model thus evades the most vexing issue local educational agencies looking at workforce housing face: How can they pay for the initial cost of development and construction? With San Diego’s model, they don’t have to pay for anything. In fact, the district makes money on their underutilized land, while also providing their employees with top-notch housing, adding to the housing supply (and potentially boosting enrollment) and getting an educational facility built for near free.

The success of LIVIA is what convinced San Diego USD that it was ready to bring these benefits to more staff. At a panel during CSBA’s visit, Superintendent Fabi Bagula explained why she was so excited about the work: “It’s pretty simple — San Diego is a great place to live, but we’ve been losing employees and students because of the cost of housing. If we build more housing, people will come here. And not only are we able to reduce the financial burden and stress for some of our most cost-constrained employees, but we also provide a boost to our enrollment by adding to the housing supply.”

San Diego USD is now negotiating with proposed developers on seven sites. When these negotiations finish, the district will be the single largest EWH builder in the entire country by a large margin. It also plans to place services like childcare on some of the sites, which would make the housing units especially attractive to people with young children. At this scale, San Diego USD will be able to use workforce housing as a key perk as it recruits the next generation of educators.

“Moving these projects forward reflects our will to address one of the greatest challenges facing working families in San Diego and our workforce, housing affordability,” Bagula said. “By advancing negotiations on multiple sites, the board is helping lay the foundation for housing solutions that support staff stability, strengthen our school communities and ensure the people who serve our students have a real opportunity to live in the region they serve.”

San Diego USD is aware that it is setting the bar for what EWH can achieve much higher. “The next chapter is moving from vision to implementation. San Diego USD will continue advancing priority sites through competitive development processes, board consideration, community engagement, environmental review and the necessary local and state approvals. The district will also refine eligibility and affordability policies so that the housing meaningfully serves employees across income levels and job classifications,” San Diego USD Board Vice President Sabrina Bazzo said. “Over time, the objective is to create enough workforce housing to support a significant share of district employees while demonstrating that school districts can use their land strategically — not only to generate revenue, but to strengthen the workforce, preserve public assets and improve the conditions in which students learn.”

Inspired? Here are some ways to learn more about EWH:

• Join CSBA’s EWH session at the 2026 Annual Education Conference and Trade Show
• Register to attend a future EWH 101 workshop in San Diego, currently scheduled for the fall
• Review CSBA’s fact sheet and media on LIVIA at Scripps Ranch in the EWH resource library

Review additional information, sign up for trainings and discover related resources at csba.org/workforcehousing