Workforce Housing Initiative: A Vision for Employee Recruitment and Retention
Recognizing the housing cost burden faced by educators and school staff in the Bay Area, Redwood City School District (RCSD) is proactively addressing the challenge head on.
Cost of living continues to rise in California with no sign of stopping. This creates a significant barrier to retaining and attracting the talented teachers and staff that have always made RCSD a wonderful place where children thrive. We need our educators to thrive, as well.
So what can we do? Thoughtful and innovative planning is going toward creating a solution in our own “backyard.” RCSD has the land and the capacity to create affordable living spaces for our educators right here in our community.
Action RCSD is Taking
Reducing cost-of-living impediments is a great priority for the RCSD Board of Trustees and District leaders who believe the time to act is now. Redwood City’s commitment to affordable housing and other regional initiatives hold open a great door of opportunity.
The Teacher Housing Act of 2016 allows school districts to initiate creative solutions for below market rate housing dedicated for school employee use. Further legislation pertaining to property tax of District property creates more pathways for affordable rental units available exclusively to RCSD employees.
The project began in 2019 with the Board of Trustees directing the District to move forward with a feasibility study. Conversations surrounding Public-Private Partnerships began as well. In 2021, a formal application was submitted for more than 50 workforce housing apartments in what will become a residential building, coupled with adjacent office space and a parking structure–all within a three-mile radius of all 12 RCSD schools, providing opportunity for shortened commutes or use of alternative transportation.
As of spring 2023, RCSD and The Sobrato Organization (TSO) are working collaboratively to assess the feasibility to proceed with a new mixed-use development located at 750 Bradford Street and 603 Jefferson Avenue in Redwood City. TSO is a long-standing leader in Silicon Valley community-oriented construction.
The mixed-use project concept provides an innovative solution to retaining the area’s best and brightest employees. Many RCSD employees currently reside in other areas, which equates to more time on the road. The WorkForce Housing vision will improve work-life balance by shortening employee commutes while also strengthening employee ties to the community in which they work.
The mixed-use project concept provides an innovative solution to retaining the area’s best and brightest employees. Many RCSD employees currently reside in other areas, which equates to more time on the road. The WorkForce Housing vision will improve work-life balance by shortening employee commutes while also strengthening employee ties to the community in which they work.