Prospects dimmed for affordable housing for San Francisco educators
November 9, 2021
By Ida Mojadad, San Francisco Examiner
Building low-cost housing for educators in San Francisco — so that teachers and staff can afford to live in the city where they teach — was a bright promise that appeared ready to shine in 2019.
But while four educator housing projects were in the works for The City back then, only one has made it past the drawing board. The others have, at least temporarily, fallen victim to the pandemic and the San Francisco Unified School District’s dire budget crisis.
The survivor is Shirley Chisholm Village, a 135-unit affordable housing building on school property in the Outer Sunset. Construction will begin at 1530 43rd Ave. next year and educators making between 40% to 120% of area median income — or $37,300 to $111,900 for a one-person household — will be able to occupy the building in 2024, according to nonprofit developer MidPen Housing.
The project, named after the educator and first Black woman elected to Congress, was the first of its kind in San Francisco, and 2019 became a banner year for the model. Voters that year approved Proposition A, a $600 million bond for affordable housing that dedicated $20 million to educator housing. They also passed Proposition E, which allowed affordable housing to be built on public land after a political battle over area median income qualifications.
Educator housing “requires action, it requires money,” said Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco. “We need city leaders to step up and act on it. Ultimately, if we’re trying to make sure we have a healthy and thriving city and healthy and thriving economy then that means you have to have healthy and thriving workers.”
