A Marine helicopter ferries troops over the Golden Gate Bridge. With the highest rents in the United States, San Francisco is considering building low-cost housing to help attract and keep teachers. In San Francisco, where the booming Silicon Valley economy has sent rents soaring, low-earning public school teachers are among those who have suffered the most. Faced with a hemorrhaging teacher pool, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the San Francisco Board of Education last month agreed on a plan to build federally subsidized apartments for teachers. The first of its kind in the nation, the proposal calls for a 43-unit apartment house to be built at the new Dianne Feinstein Elementary School.
Construction begins in the fall.
San Francisco's Teacher Housing Initiative is only one solution to a growing housing problem that has gripped the Bay Area. Along with San Francisco, where only 12 percent of households can afford a median-price home, Alameda, Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties have the most expensive housing. And you just can't expect that from teachers here living on their salaries. We have the most expensive housing in the country, and it's difficult for educators to live here. This new plan will at least make it possible for teachers to afford housing.