For California districts already grappling with teacher shortages, high housing costs pose one more obstacle to hiring. Many districts can’t find enough fully credentialed teachers to fill their classrooms, according to the “Getting Down to Facts II” education research project released last year.
An EdSource analysis of teacher salaries and rents reveals just how crushing California’s housing crisis has become for many teachers. In more than a quarter of school districts the highest-paid teachers could not afford to rent a three-bedroom house or apartment.
Teachers at the bottom of the salary scale working in coastal or metro areas of the state are being shut out of affordable housing. Many are spending more than 30 percent of their salary on rent, the federal cutoff for affordable housing.