Hamilton County school board members will soon consider forming a partnership to begin looking at creating affordable housing for district teachers and staff, which officials said they hoped would support recruitment and retention efforts.
Under the proposal, Hamilton County Schools would lease district-owned land in the St. Elmo area to Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise to build around 70 housing units that would be available to employees. Up to 10% of the units could be targeted toward local first responders through a partnership with the Hamilton County government, said Rachel Emond, the district’s strategic project and policy administrator.
Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise, a nonprofit housing development organization, would build and manage the units, CEO Chris Thompson told board members Thursday. Other than leasing the land, the project would require no financial contribution from the district.
The board is expected to vote on a letter of intent at its Jan. 15 meeting.
Hamilton County school board to consider initiating partnership to look at building staff housing
That letter would outline the parameters of the board’s relationship with the enterprise, as well as describe what needs to happen for the project to move forward, Emond said. Later on, the board would have to approve a formal lease agreement.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County school board adopts policy to tackle housing growth)
The district would lease its property on West 40th Street, where the “Teacher’s Place” building sits, for the project. That building houses several district programs, including the print shop and welcome center, and daily operations there would be able to continue if the district moved forward with building housing.
Cottage-style one- to three-bedroom units would be built on the front end of the property, surrounding the existing building, Emond said. The district’s goal is to keep rent prices under $1,000 per person.
Board members had several questions Thursday about the logistics behind the project, including what the terms of rental agreement would be, how long tenants could stay and the district’s liability. Many of those details are yet to be determined, board attorney Scott Bennett said, but would be worked out before the board signed a lease.
“I’m not going to recommend any contract where I see that the board’s going to be financially exposed to something like that,” he said. “My supposition here is that we are going to assign all of the risk to them (the enterprise) and we’re going to look to be sure that they have either the financial assets or the insurance to protect us against any kind of expense. And if we don’t have that assurance, then I will tell you that.”
School board member Felice Hadden, R-Ooltewah, who appeared skeptical of the proposal when district leaders first introduced the idea in August, said she toured the property with officials and was impressed by Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise’s work. This is the kind of unit that the community needs, she said.
Other board members had mixed reactions.
“We’re a board of education. This is a big jump from education to ask this board to think through landlord leasing, so I think there’s a lot that needs to be talked about before we even vote on this letter of intent,” said school board member Jodi Schaffer, R-East Brainerd. “There’s a lot that we don’t know, so, to me, it’s out of our lane.”
It is a big jump, Superintendent Justin Robertson said. The reason he’s compelled to recommend the project, he said, is because of the confidence he’s gained from interacting with Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise for the past six months.
“What is not outside of our lane, though, is recruiting and retaining great teachers,” Robertson said. “We have pulled so many different levers … but we’re getting to a place of beyond just continued pay increases, we don’t have a lot more to provide as an incentive. And to me, this is a really strong incentive that will help us recruit and retain teachers.”
Contact education reporter Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.