A unique program designed to see the construction of new affordable housing for teachers working in a Santa Fe County school district has just received significant federal funding.
Officials with the Pojoaque Valley School District say that the gap between the salary earned by the district’s teachers and the cost of renting an apartment unit in Santa Fe is wide and growing.
According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, the average monthly pay for a first year teacher is around $2,500. But the city’s average rent for a one-bedroom apartment, notes the site Zillow.com, is now nearing the $2,000 mark.
Worried about losing teachers due to the tight economics, the district would like to build up to eight modular homes with anywhere from two to three bedrooms each.
The effort has now secured some $750,000 in funding out of Washington. In a visit in January to the school district, New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Lujan noted that the funding was approved by Congress and added: “I’m hopeful that we can see more of this across the country to provide the solutions.”
An exact timetable for when work on the new housing facilities in the district might begin has not yet been announced.
By Garry Boulard
