Publication Date

Spring 2020

Degree Type

Master's Project

Degree Name

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Department

Urban and Regional Planning

First Advisor

Frances Edwards

Keywords

Affordable Housing Projects for Educators, Teacher Housing Developments, Teacher Recruitment and Retention, School District Staff Recruitment and Retention, Building Affordable Housing

Abstract

Research was conducted to answer the question, what are the successful pathways to the creation of school district-driven affordable housing projects to enhance recruitment and retention of teachers and other school district staff? This research is based on a program evaluation of four current housing developments for educators and school district staff, and describes successful models for implementation that can be followed by other interested school districts or organizations. For the purpose of this research, successful is defined as projects that were able to secure land, funding and public support during the planning phase, and house district workforce upon implementation.

This research analyzes four completed school district employee housing programs: Casa Del Maestro (Santa Clara, California), Sage Park (Los Angeles, California), Teachers Village (Newark, New Jersey), and Miller’s Court (Baltimore, Maryland). The four programs were selected to represent various U.S. areas geographically, demographically, and economically, and districts of varying size.

Not all proposed projects are built due to an array of issues that will be described. The findings discuss how the four programs have been implemented, whether the programs successfully achieved their goal of creating teacher housing in their area, and lessons learned from proposed programs that were not implemented. The analysis evaluates the relationship between increasing housing costs and low teacher salaries, leading to difficulties with recruitment and retention. To combat this problem, school districts and developers have created teacher housing projects to help subsidize the cost of living for local educators. The programs aim to encourage school district staff, mainly teachers, to remain in their positions, and provide the opportunity for educators to live in the community where they teach.

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