Workforce housing

Design inspiration for Upward Housing project presented to Marion County School District on June 19. Link to full presentation in the article.

A company with a mission to help essential educators remain in their school districts through affordable housing plans to establish its first Florida community in Marion County.

Upward Communities is privately funded and was created nearly two years ago to establish residential areas with affordable rates exclusively for school staff.

CEO Jason Roberts spoke at the Marion County School Board meeting on June 19 to address an issue he hopes to solve: recruiting and retaining educators.

“What we realized was staff felt like they were making a living sacrifice to be a teacher,” Roberts said.

He said 17% of educational staff nationwide leave or resign from the workforce every year because living costs increase beyond their income.

“If I had any private company that was losing 17% of my staff a year, we would be out of business,” Roberts said. “You guys have been very good. You have got like a boat with a whole bunch of holes in it and you are patching it with substitutes, certifications, teachers and bus drivers.”

He said he is trying to offer a solution that will incentivize staff to teach in Marion, lifting the weight of filling gaps off the board.

“Then you could actually do the other things you would like to do with your job, which would be focusing on education and helping our kids succeed and do other things, versus just trying to fill it with warm bodies,” Roberts said.

Roberts also said that 30-50% of school district employees’ income goes toward housing, causing them to commute from cheaper options further away or to reside in worse conditions.

Upward listed base prices for one- to four-bedroom homes that are below the market rates for apartments in the county. A one-bedroom duplex has a starting rent of $895 and an average rent of $1,195; a two-bedroom duplex ranges from $995 to $1,495; a two-bedroom home starts at $1,050 with an average of $1,590; a three-bedroom home rents from $1,295 up to an average of $1,725; and a four-bedroom home has a starting rent of $1,425 with an average of $2,050.

Roberts said, “So, our focus is trying to fix the income issue for the staff member by lowering their living expenses and giving them an affordable, quality place to live that is closer to work that they would own if they got paid more money,’’ Roberts said.

He said the communities are designed to last and look like luxury, so the housing is a perceived benefit for staff to want to stay.

Upward Communities has only used DPZ CoDesign, the “best” urban community design team in the country, who built Rosemary Beach and Seaside, both in the Florida Panhandle, Roberts said.

Renters do not have to handle repairs, mowing lawns and upkeep, as the maintenance covers those responsibilities. Indoor and outdoor amenity spaces include: a pool, fitness area, dog park and a children’s playground. The communities are meant to be walkable with pedestrian-friendly streets.

Roberts assured the district that Upward deals with the tenants who are fired or cannot pay rent, operating as any other apartment complex would.

He said the staff living in the community would pay for individual utilities but would not face rent hikes or surprise non-renewals.

The developments are not limited to teachers, and any essential staff the district needs to operate, such as bus drivers, security and child nutrition workers, will be included.

“That’s the only way that I am going to be able to stop people from leaving the workforce and get them to come into the workforce,” Roberts said. “There might be people now that are actually considering becoming a teacher with a college degree because they get this amazing house, at this amazing price, and get to live in this community.”

Board member Allison Campbell said living in these lower-priced homes can help staff qualify for home ownership as they save more money on rent over time until they can afford to move.

“There is a lot of just really good purpose behind this, and I want you to see that in our structure we have the best of intentions that this is for the district for a long period of time,” Roberts said. “This is not for us to figure out how to get rich. You can’t get rich building affordable houses and making it affordable for staff.”

Upward Communities was first approved in January by Hays Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) in Kyle, Texas, just 12 miles from Robert’s home. These communities are not expected to break ground until September.

Hays CISD consented to 300-1,000 homes to start, and now 600 people are on the waitlist. To include more staff members, Roberts said he is already looking at phase 2 and 3 locations to build closer to the 1,000 homes, with 25 houses delivered each month.

Roberts said Upward spent over $714,000 before locking in rent prices with Hays. He pointed out that the financial risk is all on the company’s side because he knows school districts cannot afford this need.

Due to this, Roberts said Upward Communities will front the developmental costs. The school district will lease the property at a fixed annual rate with a set increase each year.

The district will have control over who lives in the homes, and the staff members will pay rent directly to Upward with no income checks or limits, making the housing more accessible.

Roberts said Upward covers the risk by setting aside reserve funds and pre-leasing units to staff and other tenants.

The company furthers affordability by passing along cost savings to the district, and as staff would be paying rent somewhere else anyway, Roberts said this is revenue-neutral for the district.

Lockhart Independent School District (ISD) in Texas has also been approved for 100-115 units as well. Roberts said Upward has 20 more school districts and two universities “on deck.”

The company was also recruited by Arkansas, Tennessee and now Florida, with Marion County. He said Upward was invited to Marion County by Kurt Kelly, the Florida Coalition for Children CEO and prior Marion County School Board chair.

Campbell thanked Roberts and Kelly, who she called a “local champion” for bringing this to the board.

“Knowing that if he (Kelly) was in this seat, he would be making this decision and saying, ‘Absolutely, go forward,’” she said. “And so, that would have been a generational change that could have occurred many years ago when he was on this board, so I’m excited to potentially be a part of the board that is going to make a generational change for our employees.”

 Result:

All five board members were in support of the concept, but requested School Board Attorney Jeremy Powers, Roberts and district staff gather more information before anything is finalized.

The length of the contract, the location of the communities, and the rental rates still need to be decided by the board.

Roberts said with a 50- to 60-year contract with Upward, the school district can back out at any time. However, if they do fulfill the full contract, he said Upward may donate the property to the district afterward for little to no money.

The process Upward Communities follows was shared in the Upward presentation on BoardDocs. It says the school board and legal department approvals must be secured first to begin project planning. Then select the land, make deposits, and confirm site and zoning feasibility.

Next, the initial location and unit plans are created and shared with the school and city for feedback. After that, the lease must be signed by the superintendent to proceed with all drawings.

Lastly, the architectural and engineering plans are completed, permits are submitted, and the homes are ready for staff to move in.

Roberts said he understands the risk Marion takes by being the first in Florida to build an Upward community, so he is thankful.

“I’m trying to make one of the largest public benefits for an essential staff member a house,” he said. “And I am trying to make it where a teacher says, ‘Wow, I get this amazing house at this amazing price because I work for the school district.”