CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The City of Charlotte is earmarking $1 million to support a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools initiative to provide affordable housing for teachers
The proposal, which would start with a pilot of 100 units, is called Teacher Village.
On Monday, the city council adopted its $4.17 billion budget, which included appropriating $1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act interest funds for this project.
Board of Education Member for District 1 Melissa Easley said it aims to attract and keep teachers in the district.
“We’re trying to bring in other benefits to working for CMS, other than just the pay,” Easley said.
A CMS teacher survey reveals 61% of them say housing may impact them from continuing to work for the district.
According to CMS, with beginning teacher pay and Mecklenburg County supplemental pay, new teachers earn $46,301.
"We have a large population, teachers that are currently living in hotels with their families or by themselves or that have some sort of income supplement because they cannot afford to live in Charlotte,” Easley said. “It’s inexcusable, it’s atrocious.”
Easley, who was a teacher for 10 years with CMS, said her starting salary prompted her to live in a hotel room initially.
“I couldn’t find a rental where I could get first month’s rent, last month’s rent,” Easley said.
The Teacher Village, which is in its early stages, would be on CMS property.
The funds from the city are expected to be used for pre-development costs.
According to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 10,373 teachers left the classroom in the 2022-2023 school year.
“Unfortunately, we are dealing with the situation we are losing teachers by the tens of thousands every year. We certainly want to support our teachers. We also want to make sure that what we're doing is viable projects for the city and that we're setting the proper tone for the proper precedent for additional dollars that are going to be spent this way,” Charlotte City Council Member At Large Dr. Victoria Watlington said.
Charlotte City Council Member At Large Dimple Ajmera said the city’s funds would go toward design costs, and private funding would support the rest of the project.
“This will help us recruit and retain the best talent. It is also really helping us address our affordable housing crisis and in really leveraging private sector funding as well as public money and land to help address affordable housing prices,” Ajmera said.
Easley said CMS teachers have responded to the idea with mixed emotions.
“Some teachers are thrilled by it. Some teachers think is a great idea, even though they may not take advantage of it. They think it’s a great opportunity,” Easley said.
However, some of them have expressed they want a livable wage.
"I get the criticism of it. Why not just pay teachers more? And I agree, 100%. Why not pay teachers more? But that's not on Charlotte. That's not on the county. That is a state issue,” Easley said.
Mary Losey, who is a student at Central Piedmont Community College pursuing teaching, said providing affordable units would be helpful, but she would need more research to have a position on the proposal.
“I think the economy is just a little bit crazy right now and a lot of things are very overpriced, especially in housing. And I think it would be helpful to have something that is a little more controlled. That would be helpful as teacher salaries are very low right now, and there's not exactly much in sight as far as getting better salaries necessarily," Losey said. "I would say my one concern with a project like this would be the effect on taxpayers or just maybe unintended consequences."
Mecklenburg County approved $7.4 million to increase supplemental pay for teachers with a focus on more tenured teachers.
The city council is expected to receive additional information regarding the plan before the funds are distributed in the fall.