The Upward Blog
Expert perspectives on workforce housing, teacher retention, public sector recruitment, and building stronger communities.
Spotlight: Palo Alto Breaks Ground on 'The Academy,' a Privately Funded Teacher Housing Project
Construction is underway on The Academy, a 55-unit teacher housing project in Palo Alto funded entirely through private capital. The project highlights a growing national trend of purpose-built educator housing in high-cost communities.
Read More →From Bentonville to Baltimore: A Comparative Analysis of Teacher Housing Models Across the U.S.
School districts from San Francisco to rural Colorado are experimenting with teacher housing, but approaches vary widely in financing, scale, and long-term viability. This article compares the leading models and identifies what separates sustainable programs from short-lived experiments.
Read More →The $25,000 Problem: Calculating the True Cost of Teacher Turnover and the ROI of Housing-Based Retention
Replacing a single teacher costs up to $25,000 in large districts. This analysis breaks down the real financial impact of teacher turnover, explains why salary-only strategies fail, and models the return on investment of workforce housing as a retention tool.
Read More →The Rent Gap: Why 47% Housing Cost Growth Is Pushing Teachers Out and What Districts Can Do About It
Between 2019 and 2025, housing costs rose 47-51% while beginning teacher salaries grew just 24%. This analysis examines the data behind the teacher housing crisis, profiles districts taking action, and outlines the emerging private-partnership model that requires zero public funding.
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