San Francisco is rolling out a new solution to affordable housing for teachers.
Applications for the city's newest affordable housing developments started being accepted Tuesday, with the process only open for the next few weeks to teachers and staff at San Francisco public schools.
The new development for affordable housing is almost complete at 43rd Avenue, near Judah Street. It is called Shirley Chisholm Village and named after the country's first Black congresswoman, who was also a longtime public education advocate.
After the city in 2016 decided to prioritize affordable housing for teachers and first responders, Shirley Chisholm Village is scheduled to open in the fall.
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"It's unfortunate that it's taken this long because we've had to do a lot of rezoning and some of those laws we just need to remove and get out of the way," Mayor London Breed said.
The city and San Francisco Unified School District had to team up to get the development done.
"The school district donated the land to the city to build affordable housing for educators," said Anne Stanley with the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Affordable Housing. "It was primarily used for storage for about 30 years or so. It had some other uses, but it was a very underutilized lot."
For the school district, the new property helps solve a major challenge in hiring and retaining teachers.
"So, this lets us give our staff an opportunity to have affordable housing and focus their time and energy on the classroom, on teaching and learning, which is where we want them to spend their time," San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne said.
Wayne said the district is also eyeing two other properties that could be similar developments.
Shirley Chisholm Village will have 135 homes available, including one- and two-bedroom units.
If there are still units available at the end of the initial three-week application process reserved for SFUSD teachers and employees, the city will open them for other applicants.
