HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The state continues to battle a severe teacher shortage.
According to the Florida Education Association, the latest numbers as of August show there are 10,771 vacancies for teachers and support staff statewide.
One of the solutions multiple Florida school districts are looking into is creating affordable housing for employees.
It’s something Hillsborough County Schools is now considering.
ABC Action news first spoke to superintendent Addison Davis about this over the summer.
“It really will allow us to be able to create a longer, stronger bench of employees,” said Davis.
The timing is crucial amid Florida’s housing crisis, an ongoing push for better pay for teachers, and many of them struggling to make ends meet as rent rates skyrocket—some going up hundreds of dollars.
“I cried to my mom, and I was like, 'How am I going to do this?'” said teacher Liz Wayne, whose rent went up $500 this past year.
As part of the Hillsborough School District’s attendance boundary analysis project, leaders are changing school boundaries because some schools are too full, while others don’t have enough students.
The move could save millions of dollars.
Officials are considering repurposing some of the buildings.
One of the options on the table is converting under-capacity schools into affordable staff housing, the latest trend to try to get teachers in the door and keep them.
“That’s going to be an opportunity for employees to save a tremendous amount of money but openly be able to give them a perk,” said Davis.
ABC Action News reached out to Blue Sky Communities, one of the groups chosen to redevelop properties if the school board goes that route.
“Blue Sky hopes to work with Hillsborough County Public Schools to create state-of-the-art affordable and workforce housing for employees of the school district,” said Shawn Wilson, President of Blue Sky Communities.
If the district chooses this option, Blue Sky told ABC Action news they could be tasked with creating apartments.
“Most of our apartment complexes are for people earning between 60% and 80% of the area's medium income. So that captures some teachers, but it also captures a lot of school district employees that maybe are not teachers," Wilson said. "Maybe they’re bus drivers, or maybe they’re custodial, or they work in food services or administrative. All of those employees should be eligible for the housing that Blue Sky is going to create."
Blue Sky plans to start having more conversations with the school board in early 2023.
“We’re really looking forward to the school district identifying the actual properties that they think would be useful for affordable housing," said Wilson.
If the district decides to move forward, Wilson said it could take a few years before any housing is ready to go.
