California school district asks community to rent rooms to teachers amid high cost of living

A school district in northern California has reached out to the local community and urged residents to consider renting out spare rooms to teachers, stating that the increasing cost of living in the county is forcing teachers to look for positions elsewhere.

Milpitas United School District, which is close to San Jose in the Bay Area, recently passed a resolution in support of affordable housing initiatives. When making a case for the resolution, the district said that 10 teachers had quit their jobs in the last year due to the living costs in Santa Clarita County. The school board said it is constantly looking into different options to house teachers, including “private homeowners with rooms to rent.”

Superintendent Cheryl Jordan told the Daily Mail that the high housing prices are also making it difficult to attract new teachers.

“‘We’ve lost out on some employees that we tried to recruit because once they see how much it costs to live here, they determine that it’s just not possible,” Jordan said, adding that they have had some interest from the community in assisting teachers.

“So far, we’ve had 34 respondents who are interested in providing a room or small space on their property for our educators if needed,” Jordan said in her interview with The Daily Mail.

Nearly 50 people in the community have offered up a room, NewsNation affiliate KRON reported.

“This is evidence that our entire MUSD Team, which includes our teachers and classified support staff, is valued by our Milpitas community members, parents and caregivers,” the school district said in a statement as reported by KRON.

“Many of the Milpitas Unified School District moderate-income employees are working families and are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase or rent a home within a 15-mile radius or close to the Milpitas Unified School District where they work,” the school district said in its resolution.

Teacher salaries have flatlined across the country since 1996, and a report from the Economic Policy Institute shows California teachers were paid 17% less than comparable college-educated teachers in the last year.

A recent report by Airbnb also showed that 20% of hosts identified as an educator or lived with one in 2021. Teachers made close $280 million from being Airbnb hosts last year.