Jacob Marshall has been teaching at Loma Vista Community School in San Luis Obispo for the last six years and for half of that time, he’s been living just down the street.
“We weren't so sure about living on campus in terms of work-life separation and privacy but so far, it's been great,” Marshall said.
Marshall and his family are part of a test run with the San Luis Obispo County Office of Education where housing units are repurposed, renovated and rented out to district employees at more affordable rates.
The project aims to help recruit and retain school employees.
“We do have concerns about consistent retention of employees and turnover is one of our concerns,” said James Brescia, SLO County Superintendent of Schools.
Brescia says multiple school districts throughout the county have housing units of some type for employees.
The County Office of Education currently has just one unit but is looking to add six more in the same area.
“It will benefit the schools that hire these individuals, the students they work with and the community that they invest in and purchase property after leaving,” Brescia said.
The program is aimed at entry-level employees. Brescia says the units will be rented out at 60% to 70% of the market rate.
“The location for any one of these public sector housing units would be land that the agencies own so it's different in each jurisdiction. Most of these would be infill. In our particular case, it's property adjacent to one of our schools,” Brescia said.
Marshall, who moved to the Central Coast from Boston to help take care of his mom, says he’s not looking to leave the district anytime soon.
Marshall and family are hoping to purchase a place of their own in the near future.
“I'll probably, hopefully, retire from SLOCOE as long as they will have me,” Marshall said.
Project leaders hope to have the units available to look at online in the next year.
