California’s high housing costs continue to challenge local educational agencies in their efforts to recruit and retain teachers and staff, pushing education leaders to consider developing education workforce housing (EWH) on under- or unutilized land they already own.
CSBA’s new report, How California’s County Offices of Education Can Advance Workforce Housing for Educators, outlines how county offices of education can assist districts in developing affordable housing for their employees. Released in September in partnership with UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities + Schools and UCLA’s cityLAB, the paper noted that, with their regional reach and expertise, COEs can play a crucial role in making workforce housing a reality for more districts in communities throughout the state.
“COEs have played a critical role in expanding community schools and arts education in recent years, and their relationships and systems can do the same for EWH,” said Greg Francis, CSBA senior project manager for the association’s education workforce housing initiatives. “COEs are experts in convening, offering targeted technical assistance and brokering partnerships — which makes them perfect partners for local districts in advancing EWH.”
In response, a growing number of LEAs in California have begun developing EWH that they lease at below-market rates to staff. More than 11 projects have been completed across the state, and initial outcomes show that EWH can help stabilize the education workforce. However, these projects didn’t come about without challenges that many LEAs — especially smaller or rural districts with limited resources — wouldn’t be able to overcome on their own.
Several common challenges have been identified among LEAs, including a lack of:
- Predevelopment funding: LEAs face difficulty covering early expenses like site assessments, required studies and financial modeling that must be incurred before a project is certain to move forward. Such costs can deter initial exploration.
- Consultant expertise: EWH projects rely heavily on consultants for feasibility studies, architectural design, financial structuring and property management, but most districts are unfamiliar with this specialized market so even finding the right partners and managing public procurement processes can be daunting.
- Land use and approvals: Districts do not control zoning, entitlements or permitting, and navigating these processes can add new costs, uncertainty and reliance on external actors.
County offices of education have several strengths that can help districts address the challenges of EWH. For example, COEs regularly bring their local districts together to share information, best practices and offer training opportunities.
“They can consolidate and disseminate specialized knowledge in areas like housing finance, land use law, and development project management, making it accessible to all member districts,” the report states. Additionally, “COEs are neutral conveners, bringing together districts, local government agencies, and housing developers to forge effective partnerships. COEs can facilitate multi-district initiatives, allowing for larger, more impactful projects and leveraging greater purchasing power,” the paper continues.
The report also highlights the strength of COEs when it comes to leveraging broader relationships for regional planning (e.g., they can identify opportunities for housing developments that serve multiple districts); utilizing relevant expertise among their own staff in fiscal services, project management, grant writing and navigating state regulations; and tapping into the relationships they have with county- and state-level government officials, which can be crucial for navigating policy, securing funding and gaining community support.
Drawing on research and examples from across the state, the white paper details three key roles COEs can play to expand housing opportunities for school employees:
- Building knowledge and capacity: Convening districts, providing technical assistance and sharing tools for early planning and predevelopment.
- Supporting regional and external partnerships: Connecting districts with city, county, housing authority and higher education partners to align efforts, pool resources and overcome development hurdles.
- Directly engaging in housing development: Exploring COE-led projects, joint development opportunities and joint powers authorities (JPAs) to expand funding and scale.
“The white paper provides COEs with several pathways they can take to help districts in their county advance their EWH plans and even develop housing on their own land,” said Greg Francis, CSBA Senior Project Manager for Education Workforce Housing. “LEAs in the state are increasingly partnering with each other to make employee housing more feasible, and COEs are uniquely poised to catalyze or anchor such partnerships. The white paper highlights several COEs that have already moved EWH forward in their counties, and I hope these examples inspire more COEs to see how they can address educator affordability challenges in their region.”
CSBA’s education workforce housing team has partnered with outside experts to develop a comprehensive ecosystem of materials, trainings and funding resources to help LEAs move EWH from idea to implementation. The CSBA training pathway includes introductory bootcamps, a 101 workshop series and a predevelopment loan fund and certificate of participation program. The first round of bootcamps happened in October, and applications for the 101 workshop series are now open. The workshop will provide participants with tours of four completed EWH projects and include time with experts to ensure LEAs are ready to commission a formal feasibility study. All members are welcome to apply. Find additional details, the white paper and the rest of CSBA’s EWH resources at csba.org/workforcehousing.