With the tossing of ceremonial shovelsful of dirt, an educator housing project more than five years in the making officially broke ground in Palo Alto on Tuesday, Aug. 22.
First proposed by Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian in January 2018, 110 apartments reserved for teachers and other school staff from multiple school districts are now expected to be completed in the summer of 2025.
Local elected officials, school district leaders, representatives from the developers working on the project and others gathered on Tuesday, Aug. 22, for a ceremony at the site, located at 231 Grant Ave., across the street from the Palo Alto Courthouse.
The county office building that formerly occupied the property has been demolished and the land sits empty, ready for construction to commence.
Simitian told the crowd at the event that the beneficiaries of the project won't just be the educators who will live in the units; students will benefit by getting more time to interact with their teachers, who won't be enduring multi-hour commutes each day.
"In ways that we can only just imagine today, it isn't about a hundred units," Simitian said. "It's about the opportunity to be there for kids who so urgently need that time and attention."
The apartments will be a mix of studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms and will be offered at rents that are affordable for school employees making between 60% and 140% of the area median income, according to a press release from Santa Clara County and the pair of nonprofit developers that are working on the project: Mercy Housing and Abode Communities.
The Palo Alto Unified, Mountain View Whisman and Los Altos school districts are participating, as well as the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.
Some south San Mateo County districts, including the Ravenswood City School District, are also eligible to take part in the project as a result of a $25 million grant from Meta, the tech company formerly known as Facebook.
The Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District (MVLA) originally expressed interest in the project but decided earlier this year not to take part, citing the conditions of participation and the district's comparatively stronger funding situation, according to a February letter that Superintendent Nellie Meyer sent to the county and developers.
Depending on education and longevity, teachers in the high school district make between roughly $102,000 and $193,000, according to a salary schedule posted online.
As a result of MVLA leaving the project, the Los Altos School District picked up the 12 units that the high school district would have received, for a total of 24 units.
Mountain View Whisman and Foothill-De Anza will each get 12, while Palo Alto Unified will have access to 29. The districts each paid $50,000 per unit.
Meta's contribution meant that another 32 apartments are being set aside for south San Mateo County districts. The final apartment will be saved for a property manager.
The project is being funded through a variety of sources. In addition to the money from the school districts and Meta, Santa Clara County donated the land and contributed additional funds and the city of Palo Alto donated money. The San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund and Century Housing Corporation are also providing financing.
With construction currently expected to be completed in the summer of 2025, Simitian told this news organization that the plan is to begin the leasing process in the spring of that year so that staff can hopefully move into their new homes in time for the 2025-26 school year.
Los Altos teachers' union president and sixth grade teacher Chris Hazelton spoke at Tuesday's ceremony about the impact that the project will have on his colleagues.
When Hazelton and his husband were starting out as teachers, they both worked two jobs to be able to afford to live in the area. He argued that providing affordable housing will help local districts attract and retain qualified teachers.
"By making this investment in housing for educators, our community is showing how valuable these essential workers are," Hazelton said.
Comments
Registered user
Another Mountain View Neighborhood
on Aug 23, 2023 at 11:13 am
Registered user
on Aug 23, 2023 at 11:13 am
Too small!
Registered user
Cuesta Park
on Aug 23, 2023 at 3:04 pm
Registered user
on Aug 23, 2023 at 3:04 pm
This is but one 'small' contribution to the lower-cost-for-teachers rental housing being put in for MVWSD educators (and `less-well'-compensated staff). Please remember the Mountain View complex that is build on Shoreline not that far from Theuerkauf. Over 100 of these units will be available for school employees. UNFORTUNATELY no Occupancy Permit can be issued until the developer finishes a late-starting parking structure for Market Rate (Fate) Housing.
Registered user
another community
on Aug 23, 2023 at 5:04 pm
Registered user
on Aug 23, 2023 at 5:04 pm
Mountain View has a quota to build about 1900 units of subsidized housing that will be affordable to households making 80% to 120% of the area median income. That amounts to income levels of $75K to $115K. It seems like that this housing too would be available to a lot of teachers, especially the ones just starting out. There are only about 200 teachers working for MVWSD, and their numbers could drop still further. The number of students has plunged from a high of 5132 in 2017-2018 to 4522 this past year.
This drop in the number of students won't hurt MVWSD's funding as it gets too much money in local property taxes to qualify for funding based on adding or subtracting students. It's interesting that this big enrollment drop results in increasing funding per student. The parcel tax adopted in 2016 has been needed less and less ever since it started being collected. Over $200 million in bond funding for new school facilities was approved in 2020 and the enrollment has continued to decline resulting in empty classrooms even since then. Fewer classrooms used means fewer teachers employed.
Registered user
Cuesta Park
on Aug 25, 2023 at 11:40 am
Registered user
on Aug 25, 2023 at 11:40 am
Note that a key reason why this project is moving forward is because Facebook/Meta is contributing $25 million. Without that $$$, this project would not be happening.
The reason we lack affordable housing is not ZONING, as some repeatedly claim. The problem is FUNDING.
Is it great that this project is happening? Yes. But let's at least be honest about the situation. If we want more projects like this, if we want more AFFORDABLE housing for low-income and average workers, we need policies that generate more FUNDING for it.
The alternative is GENTRIFICATION, which is what our shiny new housing element supports today. Increasing concentrations of "future residents" who all happen to primarily be high wage earners. When ALMOST ALL units in housing project after housing project are expensive, market rate units, ALMOST ALL of the people who move into those units will be high wage earners.