Dive Brief:

• The Eagle County School District, southwest of Vail, CO, is exploring the feasibility of constructing 18 tiny homes on about an acre of land it owns to offer teachers more affordable housing options.
• KUSA reports the district has found some prospective teachers choose not to accept job offers, in part because of the cost of living in the area, and some teachers leave after a few years because they can’t afford their own home.
• The tiny home project is in its early stages and district officials are still planning to survey teachers to find out what kind of housing supports they might be interested in.

Dive Insight:

Districts in many regions are finding teacher shortages compounded by difficult housing markets. Starting teacher salaries are not very high, but they are generally too high to qualify school staff members for affordable housing projects built with federal tax credits. Districts around the country are exploring ways to work around this challenge.

Elsewhere in Colorado, Custer County is in the process of converting a former preschool into four apartments. They will be able to offer them to middle-income families because a developer is not involved. Community volunteers and high school trade students are converting the property.