Broward County to Hold Affordable Housing Expo in Effort to Retain, Recruit Teachers

Mindful of the need to recruit and retain teachers, and the difficulty of that task amid the inflated Broward County housing market, officials are going on the offensive. On Saturday, the county will hold its first ever housing expo for school district employees.

“The affordable housing concerns have clearly become a focus for teacher candidates to come to Broward County, whether it’s rental or ownership. We’re not going to be able to recruit if we can’t offer options for middle-income people,” said Becki Brito, the school district’s director of instructional staffing.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, the expo will primarily showcase homes selling for $350,000 or less. Banks, mortgage lenders and financial advisers will be on hand to explain Florida home loan financing options, as well as discounts for teachers and first-time buyers.

“I need to find a place under $200,000, and most of the places I’ve seen were either terrible or in less than desirable neighborhoods,” said 35-year old Stirling Elementary School teacher Nathaniel Driver, who earns under $50,000 a year teaching fifth grade.

The lease on his rental apartment ran out two months ago, and he is staying with a friend in Coral Springs. If he can’t find some options at the school district expo, he said he would consider the Florida housing market unaffordable and would consider leaving the area.

Years of skyrocketing prices and flat wages have put homeownership out of reach for many teachers, who earn an average of $41,600 a year statewide and $44,107 in Broward. A buyer would to earn at least that amount if he or she wanted to qualify for a Florida home loan on a condo at $202,000, the median price in Broward as of March, experts say.

To qualify for a mortgage on a single-family home at the median price of $368,100, a buyer would need a household income in the mid-$70,000s.

Florida school districts are scrambling to attract 32,000 teachers for the next school year, and must replace teachers who retire or leave for other jobs, all the while keeping pace with the region’s growth and meeting the class size limits approved four years ago.

Some districts are offering down payment assistance or are providing land to build below-market-rate housing specifically for teachers. Other areas are offering to convert an old school or build apartments above a school district parking garage. Broward’s idea for the expo came from a Florida real estate broker, Kimberly Kirschner, who’s based in Hollywood.

“Right now, there is a lot of inventory on the market, and developers are competing against each other for the buyer, so it’s a perfect market to get incentives,” Kirschner said.

Ignacio Medir, a Florida home loan consultant at AmTrust Bank, said lower- and middle-income workers have to change the way they think of the American dream.

“That single-family house with a white picket fence and yard is beautiful, but it’s getting harder to achieve. The more likely entry-level home for a teacher is going to be a townhouse or a condo,” Medir said.

Teachers have various financing options to consider. Nationally, there is the Teacher Next Door program, which allows educators to buy homes at half-price from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. But that program does little in the South Florida real estate landscape because of the already fierce competition for lower-priced housing. HUD rarely has had houses for sale in the area.

Additionally, the Florida Housing Finance Corp. in Tallahassee has programs to help teachers and first-time buyers. For Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association, the state teachers union, the solution is profoundly simple — and extends beyond offering Florida home loan assistance.

“The long-term solution is to get teachers competitive salaries,” he said. “Offering housing assistance may help some, but the real thing that needs to be done is better salaries.”