School districts up and down the state have been struggling with staff retention for years.
San Diego Unified School District unveiled their plans to proactively address the problem by constructing new affordable housing units on school property.
“Well, I think first of all, the community is very excited because they see all the potential,” said Richard Barrera, an elected trustee on the SDUSD Board.
Barrera walked 10News through the old Central Elementary school campus in City Heights where the new development will be built.
“This is an historic campus. Great things have happened here over the years,” said Barerra.
The development will be the first of its kind for SDUSD. Barrera says the initial phase of the project will include 270 units for district employees and their families.
“If educators can't afford to live in San Diego, then that really hurts our ability to have high quality staff. Second issue is, the lack of affordable housing starts to price families out of the community.”
Affirmed Housing is the company behind the development. Barrera explained Affirmed Housing is responsible for acquiring funding for the project — estimated to cost $166 million.
The development will generate an estimated quarter of a million dollars for the district each year as they lease the land. But most importantly, Barrera says, it should help address declining enrollment numbers.
“Rather than sit back and wring our hands and say this is terrible…what we decided to do as a school district is step up and say, you know, what can we do to be part of the solution?"
Barerra says in the next decade they hope to house 10% of their employees, and that they are currently identifying other district properties that could become part of the solution in a similar way.
The goal is to break ground on the project in two to three years, and have it open in three to four.
