Currently, there are nearly 3,000 teacher vacancies in Arizona’s public schools. Low salaries and lack of affordable housing are largely to blame. Raising salaries to align with available housing costs is one solution. Lowering housing costs to align with current salaries is another solution. Neither is likely. Out of necessity, Page and other northern Arizona cities are learning to get creative with teacher and staff housing. 

On June 28, Page City Council approved zoning modifications to convert a 3,200 sq. ft. commercial building into a four-unit multifamily apartment complex. Remodeling will transition four offices into four fully functional, 800 sq. ft. apartments.

“There remains a serious lack of housing throughout the community,” City of Page Planning Director Zach Montgomery said. “The applicant is wanting to partner with the school district to be able to bring in at least four new teachers, janitors, whoever works at the school, people they try to recruit but lose just like the city and the hospital and everybody else has been doing. This will provide the opportunity for at least four additional school district employees.”

The applicants for the conditional use permit, John and Angie Crim, indicated they are working with Page Unified School District on the project. 

Mayor Bill Diak asked when the project would start. Angie Crim answered, “It takes a while since it’s a school. They said they have to get bids and do a lot of the same things that you guys do. It’s going to take a while, so it will take several months.”

Counselor Brian Carey, referring to the residential overlay over commercial zoning said he loved the idea of “some infill in terms of our city core here.” 

“This is putting some residences in a kind of a transition area. I think as we move forward in the city – I know we're trying to sell off other properties, but we still have some room with some creativity in our city center as the city moves forward,” he said, adding, “Piece by piece, this is a great thing to put some housing in.”

Counselor Mike Farrow wanted to clarify if the apartments were designated for long-term rentals and not for short-term rentals. Although the intent for the four units is for long-term rentals, the city, according to current Arizona law, cannot prevent present or future owners from renting them as vacation homes. 

Council approved the zone modification unanimously with members present, 6-0. Counselor Theresa Lee was absent from the June 28 meeting.

Other northern Arizona school districts are trying new things to house and compete for teachers.

Chino Valley Unified School District is building tiny homes. Teachers can rent a 400 sq. ft. house for $600 per month. The district is hoping construction of 10 homes is completed in time for the 2023-24 school year. 

“Districts are fighting over applicants, and we sometimes don’t get any, and we have to do with people that are not fully certified,” Chino Valley Superintendent John Scholl said.

Scholl hopes the 10 tiny homes will help attract and retain teachers the district normally wouldn’t get.

Prescott Unified School District is building six two-bedroom, one-bath homes behind Taylor Hicks Elementary School. Four of the homes, approximately 900 sq. ft. each, will be available for teachers. Through a partnership with the City of Prescott, a police officer and a firefighter will get the other two. The houses will rent for about $1,200 per month. According to Zumper, the average cost for a two-bedroom apartment in Prescott as of July 1, 2023, is $1,570. The average for three-bedroom homes jumps to $2,425.

Sedona-Oak Creek Unified School District is converting a school building into apartments. Because of declining enrollment, the district voted to close Big Park Community School in the Village of Oak Creek. Students will consolidate with other schools in the district. Contractors will convert an 11.216 sq. ft. building into 8 to 11 apartments. The complex will be a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units. Rent amounts will be determined by household income.

“It’s easy to recruit teachers to Sedona,” Superintendent Dennis Dearden said in a Sedona Red Rock News interview. He later added, “A lot of the time they’ll sign contracts but have to back out in May or June. … We’ve got teachers staying in other teachers’ homes. We had a teacher just a couple weeks ago that would potentially have had to leave the district because his home was being turned into a short-term rental.” 

School districts have a variety of county, state and federal funding options, including matching grants, to help with housing solutions.

Some, like Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, don’t like the idea of teachers renting from their bosses. She believes the root of the problem should be dealt with.

“We’re treating a symptom and not the illness,” Garcia said. “We don’t have enough educators who want to enter the profession, who want to stay in the profession, because we’re not able to pay them what they deserve to be paid, and more importantly, we have taken steps away from respecting the profession.”

Sometimes the simplest solution is the best, providing the teacher doesn’t have a family. In northern California, Milpitas Unified School District is asking the community to help. They asked families to rent rooms to teachers.