KPCW, December 9, 2022--As home prices soar, teachers in the South Summit School District may have options to buy or rent from their employer in the future.
Local employers say they have to get creative to keep fully staffed as living costs rise and the unemployment rate remains low. That includes the South Summit School District, which is developing its own affordable housing for employees.
Superintendent Greg Maughan says the South Summit School District owns two homes that are reserved for teachers and other employees. That won’t meet the demand.
He said the district plans to build more and is preparing to get the ball rolling with contractors.
“We're learning, so we're going slow, but hopefully doing it smart and hopefully doing it in a way that's really going to have a positive impact on our employees.”
According to spokesperson Jodi Jones, one project in the works is a duplex near the district office in Kamas. As many as 15 single-family homes and condos could eventually go there. Maughan said the Mountainlands Community Housing Trust is helping to plan more projects.
The district also owns property in Oakley and Francis. Maughan said that could go toward employee affordable housing one day, but it’s not a focus yet.
Earlier this year, the district established parameters for those who might want to use the homes.
Teachers have first priority, then full-time classified employees are next in line, then administrators.
Maughan said new housing would be available to own. The target costs for those homes would be around 70% of market rate.
The home the district already has built and the one it’s renovating will be rented at up to 30% of the tenants’ combined income.
The district also approved a mortgage assistance program in October. It gives employees who buy homes up to $15,000 for down payments. If the recipient stays with the district for 10 years, they owe nothing in return. If they leave before 10 years, they pay a portion of that back.
According to real estate brokerage Redfin, the median home sale price in Kamas is nearly $1,600,000, which is 77% higher than last year’s figure.
Maughan said in an interview with KPCW in October that sale and rent costs are simply too high for people on typical teaching salaries.
“Right now, you go rent a three-bedroom house in the Kamas Valley and you’re $3,000-plus, and that’s just not feasible.”
According to Maughan, district-owned and operated employee housing is a relatively new idea to Utah but one that several other rural school districts are considering. He said such arrangements are more common on the east coast.
San Juan School District is another one in the state that already offers affordable housing to teachers.