Grading tests, paying rent: At this Miami school, some staff could live where they work

WLRN | By Kate Payne | May 14, 2024

There’s a new kind of development going up in Brickell.

With granite countertops and a balcony, this building’s 600-square foot units will go for no more $1,700 a month — not bad for a one bedroom in Miami these days.

Just blocks away from a Metro station and Brickell City Center, this is just the kind of place where many of South Florida’s young professionals want to live.

But this building isn’t for just anyone. It’s specifically designed for a certain kind of renter — public school employees.

There are 10 apartments here, inside the brand new middle school building for Southside Preparatory Academy. The main campus is a few blocks away.

Raul Perez, the chief facilities officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS), says when the district decided to expand this K-8 school, they saw an opportunity to do something new.

“This is a way of reimagining rebuilding — to have a more sustainable type facility and at the same time address that need that we have for our workforce,” Perez said, as he took WLRN on a recent tour of the building.

The district is developing this affordable housing project with the Miami-Dade County Public Housing & Community Development department. According to a county spokesperson, the units will be limited to households earning 80% of the area median income or less — and MDCPS employees will get priority on applying for the apartments.

Under limits calculated by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation for Miami-Dade County in 2024, monthly rent for the one bedroom apartments cannot exceed $1,703.

Perez says the development is geared toward “our young teachers.”

“And also our other district employees. Our cafeteria workers. Our bus drivers. Our custodians. All those types of other employees that can apply to get an apartment at one of these schools … which is going to help immensely with their monthly rental rate.”

The seven-story tower rising among the glitz and glass of Brickell is specifically designed to fit the constraints of the relatively narrow urban lot, and to intentionally create structural boundaries between the apartments and the school wing — for the privacy and security of everyone on campus.

“The residences sit in the first two floors. The school sits above in the other five floors,” Perez explained. “It has separate and distinct entrances.”

“If I’m in the school and for some reason I need to go into a residence, I actually have to leave the school proper. I have to go out into the sidewalk, I have to walk in through the lobby of the residences and then go up into the residences,” he said.

While it will be a bit of a journey to get from the school’s classrooms to the on-site apartments, Southside Principal Linette Tellez says residents won’t have to worry about their students — or supervisors — banging down their door.

Even if they call in sick from work for the day.

“I am not going to check on them,” Tellez said with a laugh. “I mean, if they need me to deliver some medicine or some soup, we could do that. But I will not go looking for them.”

Tellez says she wholeheartedly supports the new development; her employees’ salaries can’t keep up with the cost of housing and it’s become a major challenge in keeping her school staffed.

“Unfortunately because of that, I’ve had many teachers resign and completely leave the profession. And even leave Miami-Dade County. Because living here has become so expensive,” Tellez said.

‘Young teachers can’t afford to live on their own’

A recent report by the teachers’ union the National Education Association found that Florida ranks 50th in the country for teacher pay, with a statewide average of about $53,000. And school cafeteria workers, bus drivers and custodians make much less.

“I can tell you stories of so many young teachers that are still living at home because they can’t afford to live on their own,” said Karla Hernandez-Mats, the president of United Teachers of Dade.

While 10 apartments at one school is a drop in the ocean of Miami-Dade County’s affordable housing crisis, Hernandez-Mats says it’s better than nothing.

Still, a one bedroom apartment isn’t an option for a lot of people — especially in South Florida, where many families live in multigenerational households.

“This is a very specific type of unit and looking for a specific type of person,” Hernandez-Mats said.

“You’re probably talking about a single person or a newly married couple that doesn’t have children. Or doesn’t have plans to have children in the near future,” she added.

“It really limits the amount of people that would be interested in something like that.”

Hernandez-Mats says she wishes this kind of initiative wasn’t needed — but she says this is the reality that many of Florida’s public school teachers and staff are facing.

“Five years ago, I would have told you, ‘Hands down, absolutely not. We don’t want to live in the same place where we’re teaching,’” Hernandez-Mats said. “But because of the situation that we’re in … these are things that have to be looked at.”

District officials say the development at Southside Preparatory Academy is just the beginning. They’re drafting plans to build hundreds of affordable housing units on school campuses across the county.