A Colorado school district said it plans to build affordable housing for its employees on Saturday.
Harrison School District 2 in Colorado Springs is in the planning stages to build a 20-unit, 352-square-foot duplex on an acre lot in the district's Mountain Vista Community School District. According to the Denver Gazette.
The $6 million project will provide electrically powered homes with a rent of $825 per month. The average rent in Colorado Springs is $1,720 per month, and the median home price is $523,456. According to Forbes Advisor.
The salary for new teachers in the district is $47,545, according to the newspaper.
“(New teachers) ask: 'Can I live in Colorado Springs?' “I say you can, but you have to have a roommate or two or three so you can push the salary as far as you can,” Mike Claudio, assistant superintendent of employee support services, told the Journal.
The construction timeline will depend on fundraising.
School districts provide affordable housing
Edwick Research Center 2022 The survey found 11% of teachers said that subsidized housing would make them more likely to remain in the teaching profession.
The Harrison School District-2 project is the first school district in the region to debut a housing project, according to the Journal, though it is not the first district in the country to build housing for its employees.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, Santa Clara Unified School District and Jefferson High School District each built employee housing, According to Edwick.
The California School Boards Association, cityLAB, and the Center for Cities and Schools, a research center at the University of California, Berkeley, released research in 2022 that found every county in California has an acre of developable land owned by an education agency.
“Infuriatingly humble alcohol fanatic. Unapologetic beer practitioner. Analyst.”