According to USA Today, in Bay Area cities like San Francisco and Oakland, there has been an increase in subsidized teacher housing in order to attract more teachers to their schools. These benefits have contributed to more competition between districts, as they strive to increase the appeal of a teaching job.

In the past year, there has been a rise in popularity of a startup founded in 2015 called Landed, Mercury News states. The program aims to assist educators in their search for housing by matching the amount put for down payment. Landed’s financial gain appears in 10 years, when they regain the matched amount, plus 25 percent of the increase in the home’s value, if any.

This program is a great option for teachers considering housing aid in order to remain in the district, due to the fact that it diminishes one of the main struggles that teachers face: saving enough money for down payments.

The MVLA School District’s involvement with this program, although it may not be for everyone, marks a big step in the field of district housing for struggling teachers.

When teachers are forced out of the district, they take their newfound knowledge of the school, district, and unique teaching methods with them, making the hiring process fruitless as we ultimately end back at square one. Schools around the Bay Area have lost far too many wonderful teachers due to housing problems, and with Landed and other similar organizations, we would be able to retain our current staff and keep moving forward.