Editorial: Novato should continue push for teacher housing
A common refrain heard across Marin when there is discussion about the need for affordable housing is that we need residences for our nurses, teachers, firefighters and police officers.
There are plenty of other occupations that make our communities tick, but those seem to have political gravitas when it comes to building support for affordable housing.
Certainly in the Novato Unified School District, there is a need for housing for teachers, for recruiting and retaining quality educators.
Novato is one of those districts facing a challenge of not being able to afford to keep up with pay levels offered in wealthier Marin districts. It loses teachers who are tired of a long commute and who move to jobs closer to their homes in more affordable Bay Area communities.
Facing projections that over the next five years, an estimated one-third of the district’s teachers will be retiring, Novato district officials know they have to address the housing issue.
They’ve been talking about it for years, but the district appears to be getting a lot more serious, hiring a consultant to identify potential sites. Members of the district’s workforce housing advisory committee have also been doing their homework, learning about what other Bay Area communities have done to address this issue.
This summer, the school board expects to hear the results of its consultant’s review and decide to start a feasibility study.
In February, the district looked at weighing development potential of 33 district-owned properties, 14 of them school campuses. Among the sites are three at Hamilton and the old San Andreas middle school site in San Marin.
Sale of some of those properties may be needed to come up with money needed to pay for building the housing.
Derek Knell, a former trustee hired to be the district’s staff housing development director, estimates it could take five to eight years to complete pre-development requirements and construction.
That predicted timeline is frustrating given the need the district will be facing.
There’s been a lot of talk. The district created the housing job 10 months ago to come up with a plan that will make a difference.
The collaboration of the Office of Education, the county and the state in advancing development plans for the Oak Hill Apartments, a 135-unit affordable housing complex planned for Larkspur, on former state prison land, should serve as a local model. That housing is intended for county and Marin school workers.
Such a multi-agency collaboration could be a strategy for the district.
For instance, College of Marin has mulled building staff housing on part of its Indian Valley campus.
Novato wisely is taking an important step, asking district employees about their housing needs, their commutes and their interest in living in a workforce housing development.
It is a wise test. Getting a strong reading on the need and numbers is essential.
They should also assess applicants’ interest in housing.
In 2018, Sonoma State University bought a 90-unit apartment complex in Petaluma to house faculty and staff. But interest among those employees filled up less than half of the complex and the rentals had to be opened to the general public.
The results of the district’s survey will be reviewed at the next housing advisory committee meeting on May 13.
District leadership is starting to turn years of talk into meaningful action. The time for making diligent progress and decisions is now.