The Los Altos School District (LASD) is changing course on a publicly funded workforce-housing project after finding that demand from its employees was lower than anticipated.
At its Aug. 17 meeting, the district’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved an amendment to its agreements with Acacia, the workforce-housing development located in Palo Alto, allowing the project to broaden its tenant pool while returning $900,000 to the district.
The district purchased 24 units at Acacia as part of an effort to provide lower-cost housing for educators and support employee recruitment. Six district employees currently live in the development.
But filling the units with district employees has proved difficult. District officials said staff feedback pointed to several obstacles, including the relatively small size of the apartments, limited storage, parking concerns and rents that remained too high.
The district said it made extensive efforts to attract employees, including open houses, marketing and direct outreach to newly hired teachers. Even so, demand did not develop as expected.
“Just because we have the units, it didn’t create the demand,” Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Erik Walukiewicz told the board, citing the gap between available housing and what employees were willing or able to rent.
The situation also changed as the district hired more experienced teachers who already had housing in the area. At the same time, trustees noted that local rental conditions had shifted, making some alternatives comparatively more affordable.
Acacia, meanwhile, faced financial deadlines and needed to fill vacant units. The development proposed making units available more broadly, raising concerns for the district that public money could end up subsidizing housing without benefiting district employees.
Under the amended agreement, LASD will give up its preferential access to the units but will not prevent employees from living at Acacia. District employees remain eligible to rent there. When one of the six units associated with LASD becomes available, the district will receive advance notice so it can market the opening to its employees.
A representative from Acacia told the board that the apartments are available to all district employees, not just teachers. She also said the development was offering a promotion of two months’ free rent, either taken up front or spread across a 12-month lease, along with parking options.
The district will receive $900,000 under the revised arrangement and return the money to the building fund that helped finance the original housing investment.
Board members acknowledged that the project had not developed into the teacher-housing solution originally envisioned, but said the district had nevertheless gained useful experience and would continue looking for ways to address employee housing.
One possibility is expanding the use of accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, particularly for newly hired teachers who may need a smaller, more affordable place to live. Officials said ADUs located in Los Altos could also reduce commuting times.
While the original investment did not produce the expected level of demand, the district said the revised agreement allows it to recover much of its investment while keeping Acacia available to its employees.
