I’m a teacher in one of the most expensive regions of the US – my students are building me a small home so I can stay
TEACHERS are being relocated to tiny houses built by their students due to the housing crisis.
Students at Aspen High School in Colorado are working to build a 2,000-square-foot tiny house for a staff member to move into.
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A report Reports released last year highlighted that teachers and other workers could not afford housing in the state and that wage increases were not enough to solve the problem.
The home, which is being built by members of the high school’s woodworking program, will have a bedroom in the attic and a refrigerator and sink downstairs.
The students have placed the wooden frame on a trailer and are in the process of installing windows in the property so it will be ready for a tenant in November.
Data from the County Clerk Recorder’s and Assessor’s Office says the median home price in Pitkin County reaches about $2.3 million.
According to the Keystone Policy Center report, less than a fifth of housing statewide is affordable for teachers making average salaries, even though wages have increased an average of 25 percent over the past seven years.
Van Schoales, the center’s senior policy director, said Colorado Sun last year: “It is extremely important whether teachers can live in the community in which they teach.”
“And unlike many other professions that have weathered the pandemic, teachers cannot work remotely. At least most teachers can’t do that.”
“And we now know that distance learning doesn’t work well in most cases and so good schools rely on good teachers, and teachers need to be able to teach in their communities or at least close to the communities in which they teach to live.
“We are in a crisis in many places.”
The Aspen School District and Summit School District are taking matters into their own hands by housing their employees directly in student-built homes, which benefits the staff and students in many ways.
However, Dave Baugh, superintendent of the Aspen School District, cautioned that this is not a permanent solution to the problem.
Baugh told this Colorado Sun: “I see it as part of an overarching desire to be nimble and make sure people have a place that is warm, safe and dry.
“It’s the first question every employee asks: Where will I live?”
He added that a number of teachers may live in mobile home parks or on district property that has room for more tiny homes on wheels.
Ken Haptonstall, executive director of the Colorado River Board of Cooperative Educational Services, said students learn valuable skills through building the houses.
“You don’t have to build a 2,000-square-foot house to learn how to do electrical or plumbing work,” he said.
“You could do it with a 300-square-foot house and learn the same thing.”
The plans to build a tiny house came about after Haptonstall wanted to give students new opportunities to gain experience in construction.
Senior Eli Kissel, who worked hard to build one of the houses, supported the project, saying, “It doesn’t really feel like a class act.”
“You don’t really do class stuff. You’re still learning a lot, but you’re super practical.”
Haptonstall was awarded a $350,000 grant from the ZOMA Foundation in 2021.
The project was further expanded through a $1.4 million grant from Opportunity Now Colorado, which focuses on strengthening the workforce across the state.
Tiny homes with varying degrees of completion are now available in a number of school districts. The students are expected to complete six houses per year.
Haptonstall said it takes a class about a year to complete a structure, which costs $75,000 each.
Baugh said, “I don’t see a day when we can pay teachers enough to fully purchase a home on the open market, but that’s not just for Aspen.”
“That says something about teacher salaries in Colorado, but more realistically it says a lot about property values in Colorado.”
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