Teachers struggling to live in Oakland can soon apply to live next door to their colleagues in a North Oakland apartment building that is being converted into housing for educators, The East Bay Times reported.
The Oakland Fund for Public Innovation, a local nonprofit, bought the 33-unit complex earlier this year for about $12 million, far less than the building’s previous market value.
While the low sales price may reflect trouble in the local economy, the nonprofit’s leaders want to turn it into a boon for local public school educators, who will be offered first dibs to rent the apartments at affordable rates, the newspaper reported.
“I was house-hopping between family homes and friends of family,” said Melanie Turner, a special education teacher at Emerson Elementary School who already lives in the building and had sought the Oakland Fund’s previous financial aid offerings.
On average, Oakland Unified teachers earn among the lowest salaries in Alameda County, according to data compiled by the Oakland Education Association teachers’ union.