Daly City affordable housing complex for teachers, school staff used as model for rest of CA

DALY CITY, Calif. (KGO) -- With the rising cost of housing in California, many teachers can't afford to live in the school districts where they work.

Now, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond is launching an effort to accelerate affordable housing development.

They plan to do this on land already owned by local school districts.

MORE: How San Francisco hopes to retain teachers through affordable housing options

San Francisco is trying desperately to catch up on affordable housing for teachers, with options coming in the Sunset and Mission districts.

One Bay Area school district which has already done this, is now being used as a model for other districts across the state.

Made up of 122 units, teachers and classified staff are their own neighbors in this Daly City housing complex.

"What it's done for our school district is greatly raised morale first of all because our staff can afford to live in the Bay Area and it has made such a difference in turnover," Toni Presta, Superintendent of the Jefferson Union High School District said.

Complete with their own gym, laundry on every floor, bike storage, space for kids to play and space for meetings, Presta says 25% of staff members from the Jefferson Union High School district now live here.

All of their units go for about half the market rate.

A one bedroom, one bathroom unit starts at $1,450.

"Can you imagine at 50% below market rate?" Thurmond said in a press conference on Tuesday. "That rental is more than a rental, that's creating an opportunity for that educator to get on a path toward home ownership."

This comes after the district became the first in the nation to pass a $33 million bond measure supporting housing for faculty and staff back in 2018.

"I just really encourage other school districts to follow our lead," Presta said.

RELATED: Bay Area school district building 122 housing units for teachers, staff in Daly City

In Daly City, construction is set to begin this week for 122 below-market units for Jefferson Union High School District teachers and staff.

On Tuesday, Thurmond called on every school district statewide to do just that.

"The school districts have one of the most important parts of being able to create educator housing, they own land," Thurmond said.

Thurmond says combined, local education agencies already own 75,000 acres of land available for development statewide.

He says this has the potential to create an estimated 2.3 housing units.

"To develop that land, school districts can use local bonds and state tax credits that have already been made available," Thurmond said.

Every year since 2020, $500 million in tax credits have been up for grabs specifically for housing development, which includes educator housing.

MORE: Application for 1st affordable housing site opens this week; prioritizing SFUSD teachers, employees

Applications for the first affordable housing building that will prioritize SFUSD employees and teachers is set to open on Tuesday.

Presta says her district also took out a loan to make this happen.

"The rents that are paid really service the loan," Presta said. "We're not making a profit off of it, we just needed to come up with the right amount to pay off the loan and create a good space."

She says because of this, they've had zero teacher vacancies on the first day of school for two years straight.

Her advice for other districts?

"Reach out and ask and just get started, find out if your community would support it and don't wait!" Presta said.