Novato schools pursue workforce housing to offset staff woes

Novato school officials are looking to lower-cost workforce housing to help fill future staff vacancies.

Members of the district’s workforce housing advisory committee meeting met Monday to discuss local and regional school district workforce housing efforts.

Chris White, principal of Oakland-based consulting firm Brookwood Partners, told the advisory committee that a 2022 workforce housing project at the Jefferson Union High School District in Daly City not only eliminated staff vacancies, but is expected to generate up to $2 million in future lease revenue for the district.

“We leased up the property in a couple months,” White said. “The school district had no job vacancies for the 2022-23 school year.”

Committee members toured the project, at 705 Serramonte Blvd. in Daly City, on March 21. It occupies 4.5 acres of a 22-acre former district high school site.

Brookwood Partners received approval from Daly City to develop the remaining 17.5 acres with market-rate and affordable housing for the public, White said.

While the Jefferson Union workforce housing project was financed by a district general obligation bond and a loan, the new market-rate and affordable housing developments would be done with long-term ground leases, providing ongoing revenue to the district, he said.

“This is the new creative way that school districts are looking at handling their under-utilized and surplus properties,” White said.

“It’s often by necessity, given the difficulty that districts are having in retaining teachers and staff to meet their educational missions, as well as the housing crisis all over California,” he said.

White and Brookwood Partners principal Alan Katz are on a not-to-exceed $135,000 contract with Novato Unified to produce a feasibility study to determine which district-owned properties have the potential for workforce housing development.

The study is expected to be presented to the board of trustees on June 25. The trustees could vote to approve the feasibility study at their Aug. 6 meeting.

If the district moves forward on a site this fall, the actual project could take five to eight years to complete, said Derek Knell, staff housing development director for the Novato Unified School District.

Knell said the district has nearly completed a new staff survey asking employees about their housing needs, income restrictions and commuting situations to gauge their interest in a potential workforce housing project.

“We have close to 30% of our workforce expected to retire in the next five years,” said Knell. “It’s going to be very difficult to bring in young people to come to work for us, given the cost of living here.”

The survey, which closes April 30, is scheduled for review at the next advisory committee meeting at 5:30 p.m. May 13.

Eric Lucan, who represents Novato on the Marin Board of Supervisors, said he stopped by the committee to listen and learn about the project.

”We know that we’re in a housing crisis in Marin and throughout the state,” Lucan said after the meeting. “I think this is a really innovative option of looking at how do we help to address the housing crisis, but specifically for our teachers, right here in Novato.”

Lucan added he wanted “to be part of the process” in the event some funds became available for Novato in the future.

A regional housing bond measure is on the ballot in November through the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, for example, he said. Or a future allocation from the Marin County Housing Trust Fund might become a possibility.

“Being in on the early ground floor and hearing and learning would help me make good policy when it comes to distributing either our county housing trust fund or BAFHA dollars, or other money that might be available to partner with housing projects in the county,” Lucan said.

The Novato Unified workforce housing plan is the second major education-based project to be announced in Marin.

Oak HIll Apartments near San Quentin State Prison is moving forward after an environmental impact report was certified at the end of last year, said Ken Lippi, senior deputy superintendent at the Marin County Office of Education.

“Currently, pre-construction decisions are being readied for contractor and engineering services,” Lippi said this week.

Lippi said construction on the 135-unit, $123 million project was set to begin in early 2025.