In a flurry of recent legislation and initiatives, California officials are pushing school districts to convert their surplus property into housing for teachers, school staff and even students and families. Some districts have already started; now the state wants every district to become a landlord.

“I believe that California has enough resources and ingenuity to solve (the housing shortage), and the data shows that California’s schools have the land to make this happen,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said at a press conference in July. “As school leaders, we can get this done for our communities and restore the California Dream.”

But some superintendents and education analysts are skeptical, saying the idea won’t work everywhere and school districts might be better off focusing on education, not real estate development.

“I’m grateful someone’s paying attention to this, but I feel like educators are being asked to solve so many problems,” said Mendocino County Superintendent Nicole Glentzer. “Student performance, attendance, behavior … and now the housing crisis? It’s too much.”

Last month, Thurmond pledged financial incentives for districts that pass bonds to build staff housing, and the Department of Education is sponsoring a workshop for district officials to learn the ins-and-outs of real estate development.

His move comes on the heels of a report from UC Berkeley and UCLA that found school districts in California own 75,000 acres of developable land, enough to build 2.3 million housing units — which could wipe out the state’s housing shortage.

It also follows the Teacher Housing Act of 2016, which allows school districts to pursue funding sources for housing projects, including state and federal tax credits. Other pieces of legislation, including a 2022 law that went into effect in January, further streamlined the development and funding process. Other laws allow teachers to live in affordable housing even though their income might exceed the qualifying limits.

If Proposition 2, a $10 billion school facilities bond, passes this fall, schools could use that money to not only repair classrooms and other structures, but build teacher housing.

A handful of districts have already embarked on projects.

Santa Clara Unified has owned a 70-unit complex for more than two decades.

Los Angeles Unified owns several buildings, including a 90-unit building that opened in April and a 26-unit building reserved for low-income families. San Francisco Unified plans to open a 135-unit building this fall.

In San Mateo County, the Office of Education is working with a public-private housing nonprofit to buy an existing apartment building for local teachers. In Marin, the Office of Education joined with the county and state to build teacher housing on state-owned land near San Quentin Prison.

In San Diego, preschool teacher Carolina Sanchez Garcia said she cried when she learned she won a spot at the 264-unit Scripps Ranch apartment complex, built through a partnership between San Diego Unified and an affordable housing developer.

Due to the high cost of housing in San Diego, she had been commuting from Tijuana, Mexico for more than a decade. To get to work on time, she’d get up at 2 a.m., move her five kids into the car where they’d go back to sleep, and make the trek across the border to work. Her kids would brush their teeth and get ready for school at a Starbucks.

Now, her commute is only 15 minutes.

“It’s changed my life,” Garcia said. “My kids are sleeping more. I’m sleeping more. It’s made me a better mother and a better teacher. Now, I start my day feeling positive and energized.”

Garcia pays $1,300 a month for a three-bedroom apartment, roughly half of market rate. The rent is similar to what she paid in Tijuana, but now she has time to cook dinner for her family, prepare for class and help her children with homework. Her kids can participate in after-school activities and spend time with friends. Her gas bill is also lower.

“I am so grateful,” Garcia said. “I think all districts should do this. Teachers need help.”

Kyle Weinberg, a special education teacher who’s head of the San Diego Unified teachers union, said the district’s housing endeavors have been successful because teachers share in the planning process, ensuring that the units’ location, size and rents meet teachers’ needs. The district paid for the Scripps Ranch development through an agreement with a private developer, and plans to pay for the next development with money from Measure U, a $3.2 billion school facilities bond that passed in 2022.

Subsidized housing is necessary, Weinberg said, because of the high cost of living in San Diego. To live in a 1-bedroom apartment in San Diego, starting teachers, who earn about $60,000, would have to pay roughly 63% of their take-home pay on rent. Teachers have long commutes and suffer from burnout, he said.

The union’s goal is to have 700 units available, serving at least 10% of the teaching staff.

“We have a staffing crisis in our district,” Weinberg said. “We need to explore all possible solutions. Along with salaries and benefits, expanding workforce housing is one of those options.”

Almost zero teacher turnover

The model state officials often point to is 705 Serramonte in Daly City. The Jefferson Union High School District opened the 122-unit apartment complex in 2022, and it now houses a quarter of the district staff. A 1-bedroom apartment rents for $1,450 a month, about half the market rate.

The district paid for the $75 million project by passing a $33 million bond specifically for teacher housing, and borrowed the rest. The rents generated by the project cover the bond payments. The district hired a property management company to handle maintenance and other issues.

Daly City is sandwiched between Silicon Valley and San Francisco, which have some of the  highest rents in the country. Teachers commute from the East Bay and beyond, and the district grappled with a persistent 25% staff turnover rate annually, said district spokesperson Denise Shreve.

“I feel like educators are being asked to solve so many problems. Student performance, attendance, behavior … and now the housing crisis? It’s too much.”

“Students now start off the school year with a teacher in their classroom, instead of a long-term substitute,” Shreve said. “You have to look at the long-term benefits. We now have teacher retention and students are better off because of it.”

Lisa Raskin, a social science teacher and instructional coach for the district, said she’s struggled with housing over her 20-year career but never considered leaving. A San Francisco native, she’s committed to staying in the area — which has meant that she’s always had roommates.

When she moved into 705 Serramonte, it was her first time living in her own apartment.

“I can be with community if I want, or I can be alone. I love that,” Raskin said, noting that her neighbors and colleagues often host barbecues, game nights and other gatherings. “We call it ‘adult dorms.’ I feel safe here.”

Superintendents already overworked

But not every district can pass a bond for teacher housing. Many can’t even pass bonds to repair school campuses. And some superintendents say they’re already so overworked that undertaking a complicated project like real estate development is a near impossibility. California had a superintendent turnover rate of more than 18% last year, according to research from the Superintendent Lab, in part due to workload.

Glentzer, the Mendocino County superintendent, said housing development would be a challenge for smaller, rural and lower-income districts. Those districts face teacher and housing shortages like their wealthier, urban counterparts, but lack the ability to raise the money and hire the staff to oversee projects.

Besides, the housing shortage affects lots of people in the community — not just teachers. Mendocino County has been scarred by numerous wildfires over the past few years, plus a boom in vacation rentals that have decimated the local housing market, leaving some people to live in trailers or even their cars.

A better solution, she said, would be for housing to be left to regional authorities and for the state to fund school districts sufficiently to pay their teachers more.

Still, she understands the need. She herself lived in a district-owned home when she was superintendent of Potter Valley Community Unified School district northeast of Ukiah. The  two-bedroom bungalow was next to the football field, and she enjoyed the reduced rent and proximity to work.

“There’s no question we need housing,” Glentzer said. “But when you’re the superintendent and the principal and head of maintenance and you’re teaching Spanish, how are you supposed to find the bandwidth for this? I have a degree in education. I never took a real estate course.”

Marguerite Roza, director of the policy research center Georgetown Edunomics Lab, agreed. School districts might be better off paying teachers more or targeting raises for teachers who are in high demand, such as those who work in special education, math or science.

She also noted that except in those three fields, the teacher shortage is ebbing. With federal Covid relief money expiring and student enrollment declining, many districts may be laying off teachers — not hiring, she said. EdJoin, a teacher hiring board, this month showed nearly 2,000 openings for special education teachers in California, for example, but fewer than 100 for third grade teachers.

“By building housing, districts might be addressing a crisis that no longer exists.” Roza said. “School districts’ expertise and focus is to provide education. To assume school districts could take on the responsibility of being landlords efficiently is concerning.”

Growing interest in teacher housing

To help school districts learn the basics of real estate development, the California School Boards Association has been hosting workshops and providing resources for the past two years. So far, 152 of the state’s 1,000 school districts have signed up to study the idea, and the numbers have been growing, said spokesperson Troy Flint.

He acknowledged that smaller districts may not have the staff to get projects off the ground, but some are working on projects together or collaborating with their local county offices of education, he said.

“Districts see the immense value workforce housing can offer their staff, students, and communities,” Flint said. “There is widespread interest in education workforce housing as an elegant way to address the housing affordability crisis. Workforce housing also brings quality-of-life, community, and environmental benefits — and may even help address declining enrollment as district staff can afford to live with their families in the communities they serve.”

Carolyn Jones is a reporter with CalMatters.