A Community Development Alliance (CDA) project intended to provide opportunities for early childhood educators to become homeowners has everyone here at Acts excited! In partnership with LISC Milwaukee, the CDA project aims to build 50 new, affordable homes in close proximity to five early education providers. Learn more about the initiative here!
One of the most significant challenges Acts families have faced over the last few years is a lack of affordable inventory on the market – 40 NEW homes reserved for owner-occupancy and built to be affordable for families with low-to-moderate income (LMI) is genuinely something for Milwaukee to celebrate!
Is Housing Affordable for Teachers?
A teacher at an early childhood education center in Milwaukee makes around $12/hour (while we could go on for days about why educators should make more money, we’ll keep this post to housing issues). Truly affordable housing for that teacher would cost around $650/month, whether it’s a rental or mortgage payment. Average rental prices have been well over $1,000/month for a few years already.
Teachers feel the impact of housing instability, too.
You’ve seen the studies about the positive impact homeownership makes on kids’ educational outcomes, and while there is no study to reference when it comes to their teachers, we feel comfortable making a few assumptions:
- If the teachers caring for and building lessons for our youngest children are experiencing housing instability, or even facing eviction, it impacts kids in those classrooms negatively
- If teachers entering the workforce cannot find stable, affordable housing with a reasonable commute to their workplace, they’ll find a different job or even go into a different field altogether
- If teachers are spending way too much on housing, they’re making difficult choices around their own household’s priorities: nutritious food, extracurricular activities, savings and more.
Early Childhood Educators – START NOW!
The Acts team would like to take this opportunity to invite any early childhood educator interested in homeownership to START NOW! While these 40 houses are being built, we want families to assess their current financial situation, take steps to improve credit, pay off debt, or save for a down payment. We want to help you be ready with a mortgage pre-approval when these homes hit the market!
