Explained
Upwards Communities co-founder and CEO Jason Roberts first brought the agreement to the trustees during a Dec. 16 board meeting.
The project aims to recruit and retain teachers by providing affordable homes within the district. The units could include four bedrooms and two bathrooms with monthly rents under market value, likely $2,000 a month or less.
Unlike an individual lease, the master lease gives HCISD the ability to lease all of the units and be able to prioritize reserving them for employees, Roberts said.
Why it matters
About 100 new HCISD staff positions are added per year, said superintendent Eric Wright, and the district is expected to double in student size over the next ten years.
"We're such a fast growth district—our employees don't have places that they can readily move into," Wright said. "We know that we have over a thousand of our employees that live outside of our district boundaries. This would provide at least a third of those to have a place to [live]."
Something to note
Wright said the district is not putting any money from its Maintenance & Operations budget, Interest & Sinking budget or bond capacity toward the project.
"We are simply offering this as a benefit, and Upwards Communities—by their benevolence—is actually utilizing their own seed money to make this happen to the tune of around $90 million," Wright said.
Stay tuned
Upwards Communities is set to put together a site plan for the project next, and Wright said about 300 units are expected to be built first.