Housing for Teachers—At School

Miami-Dade County is taking the idea of join-use schools to a new dimension, with a project that would add housing units for teachers on campus.

"Amid a wide gap between modest teacher salaries and Miami’s high housing prices, the county has a new plan: build apartments on school property and let faculty live there," reports Douglas Hanks.

A preliminary proposal includes constructing a new mid-rise middle school in the luxe Brickell area for Southside Elementary, with a floor devoted to residential units, and several more reserved for parking and the classrooms on top. If that goes well, Miami-Dade wants a full-fledged housing complex next to Phillis Wheatley Elementary, with as many as 300 apartments going up on the campus just north of downtown.

According to Hanks, the idea has funding momentum in addition to planning momentum. JP Morgan Chase has chipped in a grant, and "Miami’s Omni Community Redevelopment Area — a downtown tax district with a budget of more than $50 million a year — in January voted to back a complex development agreement that would send dollars to the Wheatley project." The county is also in discussion with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development about more funding for the idea.