PRESCOTT, AZ — Some Northern Arizona school districts are making sure teachers have better access to housing by providing it themselves.
It's also another incentive for teachers to take jobs with the district.
Prescott Unified School District started construction earlier this year on new homes for educators. They will be available to rent out for at least a year.
Chino Valley Unified School District also planned to build more affordable homes for teachers.
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Prescott Unified School District started construction on homes for teachers in the spring and construction delays have pushed opening back to at least December.
According to Realtor.com data from spring 2023, the median price for a home in Prescott was about $630,000. For rent, it’s nearly $2,000, according to Zillow.
“Our starting teachers start around $51,000, with everything together. So, it’s just not enough. And they’re not able to stay here,” Prescott Unified Assistant Superintendent Clark Tenney said.
These homes for teachers are expected to be rented out for about $1,200 a month, ABC15 was previously told.
If the first community of their “teacherage” is successful, they may build more in other areas of the city, according to Tenney.
While the Prescott Unified School District is still working on their homes, their neighboring district, the Chino Valley Unified School District is just about done with their homes. Teachers are scheduled to start moving in as early as October 1.
“I'm super stoked. We got a lot to move in and a lot to move to storage,” said Jonathan Ruhlman, a first-year teacher in the district.
The homes are about 375 square feet, which the superintendent calls a studio home. There’s a full-sized bathroom, a kitchen with a burner, fridge and more amenities.
Ruhlman’s family lives in Prescott Valley, so he was able to move in with them while waiting for the district’s homes to be ready.
“It's not something I can feasibly do on a single income on a first-year teacher right now,” he said of finding his own place.
John Scholl, the superintendent of Chino Valley Schools, says teachers who start fresh right out of college get paid $50,000 in their district.
“The cost for their mortgage is more than their take-home pay on a biweekly basis. Housing is not attainable for our staff like it was when I started here in the district 27 years ago,” he said.
Teachers living in the 10 homes will be paying $550 for rent. They will be paying for their own utilities.
“This is not going to solve the teacher shortage. This is going to make Chino Valley more attractive to teachers. I think there's a systemic issue on teacher salary and working conditions that needs to be addressed beyond Chino Valley,” Scholl said.
The homes were built fairly quickly, with the contractors starting construction less than six months ago.
While the district still has a lot of land left, Scholl said they want to see how these 20 homes first play out before building more.
Teachers do have to apply to live in the homes, and it’s also not meant to be permanent.
“Hopefully, teachers will look at Chino Valley and say, ‘Hey, let’s go there, I can live there. Save a little bit of money.’ It’s not meant to be permanent. It’s transitional. Get them here get them in the community. Hopefully, they’ll stay and get them a leg up in coming to Chino Valley,” Scholl said.
Four of the homes are also meant to house their international teachers who are there to help fill spots as well.
It cost the district $1.5 million to build the 10 homes, of which a third of it came from grants. The other portions, Scholl said, are being financed and some will come out of the district’s capital budget.
