'The Most Inane Idea': Outrage Greets This Proposal to Remedy Housing Crisis for Teachers

School districts in Northern California and Colorado are providing a vivid new illustration of the United States' housing affordability crisis and chronically low wages for educators, as superintendents have reached out to local families for help with housing teachers who can't afford to live near their schools.

"That this retrograde solution would be considered in this day and age is appalling."

A spokesperson for Milpitas Unified School District in Santa Clara County, California put a positive spin on the district's decision to reach out to families in the district, telling the Washington Post Friday that 53 households in the community had offered rooms for rent.

Families were asked this week to fill out an online form if they "have a room for rent at your home and would like to share the housing opportunity with our Milpitas Unified School District educators."

But readers of the newspaper's story were horrified that housing prices in Milpitas have left teachers without any options other than finding work elsewhere, with 10 educators leaving the district at the end of the last school year.

"I think my head is about to explode reading this," said one commenter. "Asking college educated, professional teachers to shack up with their students' parents has got to be the most inane idea I think I have ever heard. Not only completely outrageous but does absolutely zero to solve the real problem of unsustainable rental pricing absent any commonsense rent control laws and [regulations.]"

A number of readers called on the district to simply pay teachers "salaries that allow them to live with dignity in the communities they serve."

While families taking in schoolteachers may have been commonplace, said one, "That this retrograde solution would be considered in this day and age is appalling."

According to the real estate website Redfin, Santa Clara County is now one of the least-affordable parts of the country for teachers, with zero homes currently on the market that would allow teachers to pay one-third of their income on rent or mortgage payments.

In addition to losing teachers to other districts, Milpitas is struggling to attract qualified educators, who earn an average of $73,536 in California--a higher salary than teachers in other states, but one that would allow teachers to afford just 17% of homes in the state's most populous counties in 2016, according to the Post.

"We've lost out on some employees that we tried to recruit because once they see how much it costs to live here, they determine that it's just not possible," Milpitas Unified School District Superintendent Cheryl Jordan told local NBC affiliate KNTV this week.

Housing prices have risen rapidly in California, with 30% of homes affordable for the average teachers in 2012.

Vice journalist Israel Merino said the solution the district came up with to house teachers is evidence that the U.S. is a "dystopia."

"I didn't think the housing crisis could get any worse," said labor rights advocate Joshua Potash. "Decommodify housing! Free and decent housing for all."

Milpitas has been joined by Eagle County Schools in Colorado, a resort area where 38% of homes were vacant vacation homes for much of the year as of 2020, in calling on homeowners to offer housing to teachers.

Eagle County School District Superintendent Philip Qualman sent 17,000 letters to people in the community ahead of the new school year, asking, "Will you let someone from our district live with you/at your property?"

While the area is popular with people who own second homes, the base salary for teachers in Eagle County is $47,160, meaning a one-bedroom rental would need to cost $1,180 to be considered affordable by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The average rental is far more expensive, Qualman told CBS News.

Kirk Henwood, a school superintendent in the Denver area, said the state's education system and housing have "made the news for the wrong reasons."

"The fact remains that many teachers are not adequately compensated for their work and education," Henwood said.

The housing affordability crisis has worsened across the U.S. in recent years, with nearly half of Americans telling Pew Research in October 2021 that the availability of housing that people can afford with their salaries is a major problem where they live.

Meanwhile, educators' starting salaries plummeted to their lowest point in a decade during the 2020-2021 school year, with the average teacher making just over $41,000 at the beginning of their career.