School strikes are spreading across the country as educators complain of low salaries that make it difficult for them to afford a home or pay rent. In response, some cities are creating subsidized housing aimed specifically at teachers and school staff. Projects are in the works in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Santa Clara, Calif. School officials in San Francisco and Miami are also considering such measures.
“Providing subsidies and housing is a smart incentive,” Sandi Jacobs, a principal at EducationCounsel, an education consulting group, told realtor.com®. “There are certain metro areas where home prices … are so high compared to the average teacher’s salary. So it means teachers may have to live a significant distance from the school they’re teaching in, or they live with five roommates to afford their rent.”
Elementary school teachers nationwide earn a median salary of $57,100 annually; high school teachers earn $59,170, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But in areas where teachers have been striking lately, educators are making less. For example, in Oklahoma, elementary school teachers earn an average of $40,053; $44,200 in Arizona; $45,530 in West Virginia; $45,690 in North Carolina; $52,390 in Colorado; and $53,140 in Kentucky.
The median home price is $279,900 nationally, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Also, the average cost is $1,170 a month nationwide for a two-bedroom apartment, according to Apartment List data.
California has been one of the first places to offer subsidized teacher housing. Santa Clara has been holding 70 one- and two-bedroom apartments for educators at about 60 percent of the market rate since 2002. In San Francisco, school officials have dedicated $44 million to build 130 to 150 subsidized apartments for 60 to 90 teachers, and up to 60 more units for school staff on the same site. The project will take at least three years to complete. The median home price in San Francisco is $1.3 million.
Miami officials are looking at building a middle school with one floor reserved for residential units for teachers. If that project is successful, a housing complex of 300 apartments could be constructed on the grounds of an elementary school near downtown Miami.
Source: “Can Cheaper Housing Solve America’s Teaching Crisis?” realtor.com® (June 7, 2018)
