“A Deeper Look” is our long-form series that further dives into the background of projects as they navigate the approval process. We hope to use this series to shine a light on projects and planning efforts that have high community interest.
Before You Begin
Workforce Housing: Refers to homes designed for middle-income households that often earn too much to qualify for traditional affordable housing, but still struggle to afford market-rate housing. This can include teachers, healthcare workers, public employees, retail workers, and other essential members of the local workforce.
Background
The San Benito High School District this year filed a preliminary SB330 application, prior to the county having its housing element certified by the state, for 1,000 new homes (at a 50% affordability rate, with priority for local educators), a new district office, district childcare center, and shopping center.
Here, we will examine the factors that led the district to make that decision and the challenges our local high school district faces in its efforts to attract and retain teachers.
Recruitment and Retention
In January 2026, the San Benito County High School District board of trustees unanimously passed Resolution # 2025-2026-023 or “Resolution of the Board of Trustees for Development of Workforce Housing as a Strategic Initiative for Recruitment and Retention of San Benito High School District Employees.” This resolution names affordability and, more specifically, workforce housing supply as a barrier to recruiting talent to the district.
When asked about the school’s challenges regarding housing, the district highlighted both recruitment and retention as issues. Stating that districts in neighboring communities are using workforce housing as a recruitment tool. They also mentioned one of the barriers for out-of-state recruitment for the high school is affordability and finding a place to live.
Because of the district’s geographic location and the absence of a nearby university, the school relies heavily on recruiting educators from outside the community. However, that recruitment pool is becoming increasingly competitive, as larger districts are building partnerships with local universities to retain new teachers within their own regions. One example is the partnership between the Los Angeles Unified School District and California State University, Long Beach. In the past, the university hosted recruitment fairs open to districts across the state, giving districts like SBHSD an opportunity to recruit new educators. District officials say those opportunities are no longer available.
Retention is also a growing concern, with 55% of the district’s teachers having fewer than 10 years of experience. Nearby districts facing similar challenges are pursuing workforce housing solutions to support recruitment and retention efforts, including districts in Monterey, Salinas, Santa Cruz, and Soledad. A district employee survey also found that more than two-thirds of respondents would be interested in affordable housing opportunities provided by the district.
To address this problem, the district developed what it calls “The Home Room Pledge,” which can be viewed in the image above (and in the workforce housing executive report below) displays the district’s commitment to keeping its teachers local.
San Benito County Lacks Housing for Educators (and most other public employees)
Despite continued growth in San Benito County, the district’s executive report on workforce housing notes that much of the housing built in recent years remains out of reach for teachers and other school employees. That challenge is reflected in the area’s extremely low apartment vacancy rates. The City of Hollister and San Benito County currently report a 0% vacancy rate for mid-priced apartments, while nearby communities such as Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Marina, Salinas, and Monterey report vacancy rates ranging from 3.5% to more than 5% in the same category.
Even when including both higher- and lower-priced units, the overall apartment vacancy rate locally rises to just 1.7%, underscoring the limited housing availability in the region. Low vacancy rates can make it more difficult for prospective employees to secure housing locally, particularly for first-year teachers and support staff.
As housing costs continue to rise and availability remains limited, workforce housing has emerged as a potential strategy to support long-term staff recruitment and retention. The district’s report notes that approximately 46 school districts across California are pursuing more than 80 workforce housing projects or sites statewide.
The Best Road Project and a Potential Second Project
The district recently made headlines by pivoting its Best Road site from a potential high school to a workforce housing hybrid project. The builder’s remedy project would include 520 apartments, 480 townhomes, a commercial shopping center, a district daycare, and new district offices. That project would be built with a 50% affordability rate, with those units prioritizing teachers in the district as well as educators and public workers countywide. The Best Road project is currently progressing through the RFP process to select a developer for the district and will likely see a full application submitted to the county sometime in July.
A potential second teacher housing complex could also sprout up adjacent to the district’s new high school off of Wright Road. Preliminary designs show a new educator community and park connecting to the proposed high school campus and to existing neighborhoods off of Buena Vista Rd.
The Best Road proposal is expected to move further into the county review process later this summer, with additional details likely to emerge as the district selects a development partner and formal applications are submitted. We’ll continue following both projects as they move through the planning process.
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