Students and educators are vital members of our local communities. Providing affordable housing options for both of these groups has emerged as a leading strategy for attracting and retaining teachers, staff, and students to our public schools and higher education institutions in the Monterey Region and across the State of California. (Read an article from MC Weekly on this subject.)

School district-sponsored housing projects in the Bay Area and elsewhere serve as models for how cities and school districts can work together to attract and retain qualified teachers and maintain a workforce that prepares our youth for the future. This strategy has been or is currently being pursued by two school districts in our region, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) and Soledad Unified School District (SUSD). Rental and Homeownership programs for educators strengthen our ability to retain these educators as members of our local workforce.

Housing for undergraduate and graduate students is also a critical component of investment by our region’s leading institutions of higher learning. The University of California of Santa Cruz and California State University Monterey Bay host thousands of students each year who will one day serve as members of our workforce locally and beyond. Students and educators at community colleges and universities like Monterey Peninsula College, Cabrillo Community College, and Hartnell College provide vocational training and important stepping stones to 4-year universities. All of these institutions are continuously evaluating their opportunities to create on-campus or off-campus housing opportunities and MBEP is here to assist with making these developments come to fruition by sharing successful models and providing advocacy support as needed.

Though there is still much work to be done, significant progress has been made in the development of housing for both K-12 students and educators and for affiliates of our higher education institutions (see below). Here are a few examples of work we’ve supported since the founding of the MBEP Housing: