Plans are now underway for the building of twenty tiny homes that will be geared for teachers on property owned by a growing school district in Colorado Springs.
The unusual project is part of a move by the Harrison School District 2 to secure teacher housing in a city where the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is now nearing the $1,800 mark.
The 352-square-foot structures will go up on the site of the Mountain Vista Community School, at 2550 Dorset Drive on the southeast side of the city. District officials estimate that it will cost around $6 million to build the structures.
A timeline for the construction of the units has not yet been announced.
The Harrison School District initiative follows a pattern laid down by other Colorado school districts tackling the housing affordability challenge: both the Aspen School District and the Summit School District near the central part of the state have built student housing in recent years.
Harrison School District officials have also been supportive of a new project seeing the building of what in Colorado Springs is called the Bentley Commons, a complex of 192 affordable housing units.
The Bentley Commons effort will see the building of six structures on a site already occupied by two existing apartment buildings, with rents for residents making 60% or less of Area Median Income.
By Garry Boulard
