Housing affordability is one of the main barriers to attracting and retaining great teachers and staff across California. To address this, many local educational agencies (LEAs) in the state are looking into building Education Workforce Housing — homes for their employees on underdeveloped land they already own.
By using their own land, LEAs can build high-quality and attractive housing to lease to their employees at affordable rates. LEAs who have built workforce housing report significantly improved staff retention. The units help with recruiting new staff, and nearly all housing units have waiting lists. This 4-minute video of Jefferson Union High School District’s 705 Serramonte project shows the transformational power of education workforce housing:
Given such promising results and the continued urgency to improve housing affordability for teachers and school staff, CSBA has launched a new education workforce housing initiative to support districts and county offices of education considering this solution.
In addition to curating this library of resources, CSBA organizes a free annual workshop series for a cohort of LEAs committed to exploring their workforce options. These LEAs receive free guidance on their options, design support, and connections to other experts and firms.
CSBA wants to support all LEAs in the state who want to explore the potential of workforce housing for their employees. Explore the steps listed below to learn more.
How can you take the next step?
- Select the subpages to explore our library of videos, templates, case studies, and other resources:
- Read Education Workforce Housing in California: Developing the 21st Century Campus (Executive Summary | Full Report), the definitive report on this issue
- Review the companion handbook targeted to school board members to learn about how to bring education workforce housing to your LEA.
- Complete this short form to join our education workforce housing interest list and hear about major updates, including when we start taking applications for the next cohort of our free workshop series.
- If you’re ready to engage a real estate consultant, schedule a conversation with Property Planning Solutions by DCG Strategies, CSBA’s exclusive real estate consulting business partner.
Questions? Email EdWorkforceHousing@csba.org
This work is in partnership with:
