by Patrick Sisson | New York Times

As housing remains scarce and increasingly expensive, cities and states across the country have been looking for ways to help essential workers like educators afford to live near where they work. Assistance and allowances toward housing, grants on down payments and rents at below-market rates are just some of those solutions. School districts in California, Texas and Florida are among those actively pursuing developers to turn their excess land and unused or underutilized facilities into subsidized housing. The partnerships differ by state and district, depending on property taxes, tax incentives and financing, but the developer is typically responsible for construction and other upfront costs while schools provide the land.