Educator Housing in Marin: a long-deferred dream on its way to reality

Recognizing that lack of affordable housing was a major cause of employee turnover in schools, resulting in disruption throughout the educational system, the California State Legislature passed the The California Teacher Housing Act of 2016. This law allows the use of state and federal funds to build affordable housing on land owned by school districts, as well as to restrict occupancy in such housing to teachers and other school district employees, but it hasn’t helped us in Marin.

Back in 2018, when we first explored this topic in Perspective, our newsletter, educator housing in Marin seemed like a distant dream. Conditions have changed since then, and the proposed Oak Hill Apartments near San Quentin may become a dream come true.

Lack of affordable housing continues to be a challenge in recruiting and retaining educator staff statewide, but especially in Marin. This April, the Marin County Office of Education listed 180 open positions countywide, the majority of them “classified staff,”  which includes janitors, aides, cafeteria workers, clerical staff, and others who keep our schools operating, as well as early childhood education workers. Their pay scale is generally much lower than teachers; many make long commutes into the county to work because they cannot afford to live here.

According to Linda Jackson, President of the Board of Education for San Rafael City Schools, school districts used to be fully staffed for the school year by the end of summer. Now, vacancies remain throughout a school year for teachers and substitutes as well as classified staff. Linda said, “Districts are finding that some prospective employees decline to come to Marin because of the high cost of housing and the long commute from more affordable places to live. The solution is affordable housing right here, in Marin!”

Some of the most successful educator housing in California has been created by pioneering Mill Valley developers Will Thompson* and Bruce Dorfman of Thompson/Dorfman Partners, LLC, through Education Housing Partners, Inc. a non-profit formed by Thompson/Dorfman Partners.  However, educator housing has not taken off in Marin, despite several stalled attempts. Bruce Dorfman reflects, “We have been trying to do this here for 20 years now. We have been in conversation with Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tamalpais, San Rafael, and Novato Unified, among others. We just haven’t been able to do it. We tried to do a tiny little pilot project here in Mill Valley 10-15 years ago, just four units or so on a parking lot, and it was shot down by the neighbors.”

So, what has changed?  Education Housing Partners and non-profit Eden Housing submitted a successful bid for developing 8.5 acres of unused State-owned property near San Quentin, taking advantage of Governor Newsom’s Executive Order (EO) N-06-19, which allows the repurposing of public land for affordable housing. This will provide 135 units of educator/workforce housing for households at 60-120% of area median income (AMI), and 115 units affordable to low-income households at 30-60% of AMI. Because the land is owned by the State, the project is exempt from local land use and planning regulations, allowing it to move forward without the usual holdups and objections.

Oak Hill Apartments will lead the way

As the largest affordable housing project to be built in Marin since Golden Gate Village was created in the 1950’s, Oak Hill will set some precedents – it is the first time in California that educator housing will be created on State-owned land rather than school district property.

Additionally, educator housing is usually financed by a school district, which imposes economic risks on the district. As Dorfman notes, “We’ve worked with dozens of school districts, but most haven’t moved forward because of their financial exposure. Most districts are understandably reluctant to invest in workforce housing since it is far afield from their primary mandate of educating kids.”

However, due to the unique financing for the educator housing component of Oak Hill, under a joint powers agreement proposed between MCOE (75%) and the County (25%), the Marin County Office of Education (MCOE) won’t have to put its balance sheet at risk. Marin school employees will have priority, but County employees will also be accepted. (More info here >>)

Before  construction begins, the joint powers authority (JPA) will issue the bonds to finance the project, secured by the real estate itself. It will  assume ownership, and be responsible for selecting residents. Education Housing Partners will then take the role of asset manager and hire a property manager for the JPA. The part of the project developed by Eden Housing for low-income housing will not be under the JPA structure and will be financed primarily with low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC).

Many sustainability co-benefits from Oak Hill: environmental, educational, staff recruitment

A recent survey sponsored by the Marin Promise Partnership found that 57.5% of educator staff employed by the nine Marin districts surveyed would either “probably” or “definitely” be interested in rental housing at 30% below market rate. Nearly two thirds of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) staff and younger staff were particularly interested in such housing.

One major reason for not expressing interest was concern that housing at “30% below market rate” might still be too expensive, suggesting that already substantial interest might increase depending on the level of affordability at Oak Hill.

Of those who would be interested in this housing, more than 30% now live outside of Marin and/or have a one-way commute longer than 30 minutes. At a recent public meeting regarding environmental review of the project, speakers called attention to potential greenhouse gas emissions reductions resulting from educator staff living closer to where they work.

According to Robin Pendoley of the Marin Promise Partnership, this housing also has important equity implications for education in Marin, where 43% of students, but just 11% of administrators and faculty, are people of color. Creating affordable workforce housing could serve as a recruitment tool for a more diverse pool of teachers while also allowing classified staff affordable housing close to their jobs.

The Oak Hill project was one of only 14 state-owned surplus land projects approved in California. If these projects succeed, there may be many more to come. Oak Hill is expected to complete the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) process by the end of this year, with permitting in 2023 and construction in 2023-2024. The new residents are expected to move in as soon as early 2026. Supporters are encouraged to speak up about the value of this project in public hearings. Find out more on the project page>>

__________________
*The William W. Thompson Fund for Housing has contributed to MEHC. MEHC’s position and support for educator housing long predates this support and is not influenced by it.