Teachers still the priority as city expands expands criteria for new BUSD housing

Berkeley city officials last week sought to assure members of the Berkeley Unified School District that its workforce housing project planned for 1701 San Pablo Ave. will remain just that —  affordable apartments for district educators — despite a City Council resolution that changed how those applying for the housing will be prioritized.

The project, which was pitched as a way to support BUSD employees who’ve been priced out of the city, will create 110 affordable units in the front parking lot of the Berkeley Adult School, which is currently serving as the temporary location of Longfellow Middle School. 

School staff will have priority for the units, although some could theoretically be used to house people who aren’t district employees under a resolution approved last week by the City Council to bring the project into compliance with the city’s broader anti-displacement goals. Specifically, the resolution integrates the city’s and BUSD’s housing preferences while keeping educators at the top of the lottery list.

BUSD’s preferences for the housing start with full and part-time district staff who are experiencing homelessness, followed by all other full and part-time employees. 

The city’s priorities are more specific. In order, the list includes descendants of people displaced by the construction of BART in the 1960s and 70s, residents displaced by foreclosures and evictions, families with children under 17, homeless residents, and those with ties to areas that experienced discriminatory housing loan practices known as redlining.

School Board President Ka’Dijah Brown said during a school board meeting in early March that the housing must be made available to these groups to be in compliance with city ordinances, since BUSD is using $26.5 million in Measure O funds from the city for the project.

But Brown and others also expressed concern that the change could lock out some eligible educators from the program.

“There’s been years of work and a lot of advocacy to make sure this happens for educators, and we want to ensure that we hold it for [them],” Brown said during the meeting. “It has a specific purpose and we don’t want any of the work to go in vain.” 

Matt Meyer, the president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, said his group and the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees met “many times” with BUSD officials to ensure district employees would be prioritized.  

“The project is being built to increase affordable units for middle-income earners who are forced to live far from the community they serve, which has an impact on teaching and learning,” he said Tuesday. Meyer said the project aims to raise the number of BUSD educators and staff who qualify for affordable housing in Berkeley.

Berkeley City Manager Paul Buddenhagen addressed the concerns at a council meeting last week, assuring the school district’s housing priorities would take precedence. He gave this example: Between two equal BUSD staff members, one from Kentucky and one who grew up in a red-lined Berkeley neighborhood but was priced out, the latter person would receive priority because of the city’s “right to return” policy. Any impacts from the resolution are expected to be minimal, he said, with only “limited opportunities” to house non-district applicants after educators fill the slots.

According to the resolution, the BUSD project team must submit a plan for a fair housing analysis to the city before deciding on the final tenants.

Financing for the project is expected to close in March with construction beginning soon after. Rental applications are expected to open six months after that, according to the project website.

“We look forward to breaking ground on BUSD’s Educator Workforce Housing project this spring, a project nearly a decade in planning that has included dozens of community engagement sessions over the years,” said BUSD spokesperson Trish McDermott in an email to Berkeleyside. “Workforce housing will help the district to recruit and retain quality educators, both certificated and classified employees who must grapple with the high cost of living in Berkeley and surrounding areas.”

The project, developed by Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (SAHA) and Abode Communities, is expected to be completed by 2027. 

Longfellow is expected to occupy the San Pablo Avenue site until around summer 2027, while plans for the workforce housing move forward. The middle school was relocated after severe dry rot was discovered on the school’s Derby Street campus last June. 

In a recent opinion piece published on Berkeleyside, parents of Longfellow students said the workforce housing project “fills a critical housing need that will help keep great teachers in Berkeley,” but could impact the safety of Longfellow students due to traffic detours caused by construction.

“We understand the concerns of families and staff regarding this and all projects that occur on school sites,” McDermott said in response to parents’ concerns. “The impact of this construction should not differ from any residential or commercial construction that currently takes place in close proximity to any school.”