Quality schools need affordable housing options for teachers and staff

  The cost of housing is turning away both teachers and students.  

While many people may think that “affordable housing” only applies to those with extremely low incomes, Marin housing prices are so high that many college graduates, even with advanced degrees, cannot afford even a studio apartment. This includes many of our teachers and school staff, who struggle to afford basic housing. Without new affordable housing, our County’s vaunted high-quality public education system is simply not sustainable. School districts currently struggle to recruit, hire, and retain educational staff; talented teachers often end up moving somewhere more affordable.

We also are struggling to maintain enrollment in our schools. Few young families can afford the high cost of living in Marin. As our population ages, school enrollments decline, accompanied with a decrease in funding.

Teachers struggle to afford Marin.  

Teachers’ salaries and local rents simply don’t match up: Nearly 43% of Marin school staffers cannot afford to rent a studio apartment here. In fact, entry-level, mid-experience, and even the most highly experienced teachers do not earn salaries that would enable them to live in a Marin studio apartment. Teachers and educational staff living in Marin could contribute a great deal to our community. It would mean more opportunities to coach sports, support after school performances and showcases, and become community volunteers and neighbors. Their children could go to school here both allowing teachers to be more involved in their own children’s education and helping to counteract our falling enrollment numbers.  

(Sherry LaVar photo Marin IJ)

Quality teachers are quick to leave Marin. 
Of the teachers who do gain some experience in Marin, our housing prices inevitably motivate many to leave when the opportunity arises. A median house costs $1.7 million in Marin, so homeownership in the area is simply out of reach. MEHC’s recent review of rental properties demonstrates that if your annual income is less than $64,000 a year, there are no housing options in Marin. Teacher flight harms us. Educators become their best selves after 5 years of teaching, and in Marin specifically, we need to be able to recruit and retain teachers if we want students to receive the best education possible.

 There is a solution to this problem:  more affordable housing. 
Among teachers and educational staff 18-39, a Marin Promise study showed that affordable housing would reduce attrition rates by nearly 50%. Marin County is home to great public schools (which of course help maintain high property values for homeowners). The Tamalpais Unified School District was ranked 16th overall out of all districts in the state of California – which makes working here a great opportunity. But the sacrifice in quality of life for these educators with advanced degrees is just too great. This needs to change – we must build more affordable housing.

We face a rapidly worsening teacher shortage. 
Former San Rafael City Schools Board of Education President Linda Jackson argues that job vacancies, once rare, now commonly go unfilled throughout a school year and that “the solution is affordable housing right here, in Marin!” Affordable housing options that are accessible to teachers and staff would be an incentive to work in Marin, and remain in Marin.

Affordable housing will improve racial equity in our classrooms. 
Although 49% of students in Marin are people of color, only 11% of their teachers and faculty are:  high housing prices shut out minorities. Education researchers have consistently found that same-race teachers have a dramatic positive impact on educational outcomes for under-represented students. Black students who have one black teacher are 13% more likely to go to college; two black teachers raise that to 32%. Additionally, studies show that all children benefit from exposure to multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial perspectives and interactions. The Marin Promise Study on diversity and education in Marin found that educators of color have a higher demand for quality workforce housing and will be more likely to be retained if affordable housing is made available.

 We do not attract enough students either   

As new families increasingly have steered away from Marin to more affordable pastures, our enrollment has plummeted. For seven straight years, our student counts have dropped, according to Marin County Assistant Superintendent Laura Trahan, and they are now lower “in almost all grades by about 400 to 500 students.”

Due to these rapidly declining enrollment numbers, schools across Marin are increasingly faced with consistent budget shortfalls. Just this year, for instance, the Sausalito Marin City School District found itself with a $1.4 million deficit. As a result, it was forced to fire 12 staff members and cut $1.9 million in spending.

 We need to build more affordable housing here in Marin  
It will benefit everyone in Marin to have housing that our educators and school staff can afford. Workforce housing for teachers, such as –Oak Hill (which MEHC strongly supports) can help.  Oak Hill will develop 135 apartments for teachers and staff of local school districts, in addition to 115 apartments for low-income families. However, this is not enough. There is little funding available for projects like this.

 (Oak Hill artist rendering)

Prop 5 will help create housing for educators  
Proposition 5, a statewide ballot measure on the November 5 ballot, can help. MEHC says YES on Prop 5. This proposition will allow for more local control over the approval of affordable housing and public infrastructure bonds, by lowering the voting threshold on those bonds to 55%. Prop 5 will help us bridge the funding gap for workforce housing. Teachers should live where they work. Marin residents will benefit by having our teachers in the community. Marin is already a highly desirable place to live. Creating housing for our teachers and educational staff will make it even better.

Once again, we remind you of MEHC’s ballot analysis and voting recommendations on LOCAL anti-displacement measures.

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