OAKLAND — Teachers struggling to afford living in this city can soon apply to live next door to their colleagues in a North Oakland apartment building that is being converted into housing for educators.
The Oakland Fund for Public Innovation, a local nonprofit, bought the 33-unit complex on Claremont Avenue earlier this year for $12 million, far less than the building’s previous market value.
The low sale price may reflect troubled times for the local economy, but the nonprofit’s leaders want to turn it into a boon for local public school educators, who will be offered first dibs to rent the apartments there at affordable rates.
“I was house-hopping between family homes and friends of family,” said Melanie Turner, a special-education teacher at Emerson Elementary School who already lives in the building and has sought the Oakland Fund’s previous financial aid offerings.
“Now I can stand here in front of you and say… I have savings now, in addition to taking care of my basic needs,” Turner said at an Oakland Fund news conference last week announcing the new housing.
Sen. Jesse Arreguín, left, Oakland Fund CEO Kyra Mungia, center left, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Denise Saddler and several other officials and educators take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
On average, teachers earn lower salaries at Oakland Unified than in any other school district in Alameda County, according to data compiled by the Oakland Education Association teachers union.
Political tensions have intensified between some district officials and labor leaders, who in February secured double-digit wage increases for teachers over the next two years after briefly threatening a strike.
The new apartment building may provide a kind of stopgap solution to Oakland teachers and other educators, such as lunchtime aides, who have struggled to continue living where they work.
Educators who sign new leases at the apartment building will pay no more than 30% of their income for rent, per the nonprofit’s “Rooted” program, which spearheaded the property acquisition.
On average, officials explained, this would equate to about $1,820 per month for a one-bedroom unit, with two-bedroom apartments ranging between $1,740 and $2,560 rates.
The building, constructed in 2017, offers in-unit laundry, central heating and modern stainless steel appliances. It sits squarely in the city’s Temescal neighborhood and is a short walk from Emerson Elementary, as well as from a Whole Foods grocery store.
Some of the units are occupied by existing renters, but the nonprofit’s leaders believe over 90% of the building will be inhabited by educators within the next half-decade as the current tenants filter out.
Guest tour one of the apartments after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Sophia DeWitt, Chief Program Officer at East Bay Housing Organizations, tours one of the apartments after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Oakland Councilmember Zac Unger speaks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Housing Accelerator Fund Chief Lending Officer Kate Hartley, right, and other guests tour one of the apartments after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
View from the roof of the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
OUSD educator Mahala Herron tours one of the apartments after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Oakland Unified School District teacher and Idora Building resident Melanie Turner speaks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Oakland Fund CEO Kyra Mungia speaks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Denise Saddler speaks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Housing Accelerator Fund Chief Lending Officer Kate Hartley speaks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Sen. Jesse Arreguín, left, Oakland Fund CEO Kyra Mungia, center left, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Denise Saddler and several other officials and educators take part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Show Caption
1 of 11
Guest tour one of the apartments after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“We see a nexus between education and housing,” Jack Woodruff, the Oakland Fund’s housing director, said in an interview. “No other housing nonprofit was doing this exact thing.”
The affordability crisis has led California legislators to consider similar paths, though they have often placed the onus on schools themselves.
In 2016, the state approved a bill, SB 1413, that allowed public school districts to build affordable rental housing with low-income tax credits.
Santa Clara Unified opened the Casa Del Maestro apartment complex in 2002, offering 70 units at four-fifths of market-rate rent.
The Shirley Chisholm Village, a 135-unit complex owned by the San Francisco public schools, has seen high demand among teachers, who are entered into a lottery system to win spots.
The apartments in North Oakland will operate on a first-come, first-served basis — one of the conditions imposed by the city government, which contributed $7 million to the Oakland Fund’s property acquisition.
“We wanted to draw a line in the sand,” said Kyra Mungia, the nonprofit’s CEO, “and say, ‘Oakland should be investing in itself,’ rather than in outside investors who might extract value and then leave when the going gets tough.”
Oakland Fund CEO Kyra Mungia speaks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 33-unit Idora Building in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, April 2, 2026. The Oakland Fund, through its Rooted educator housing program, purchased the building to provide affordable housing for OUSD teachers and school employees. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Mungia, who unsuccessfully ran in 2022 for the Oakland school board, previously worked for former Mayor Libby Schaaf, whose administration championed public-private partnerships.
The teachers’ union, which backed Mungia’s labor-friendly opponent in that race, did not participate in the Oakland Fund’s initiative to buy affordable housing, the CEO said. Union leaders did not respond to an interview request.
Oakland Unified faces a $50 million budget deficit, though it faced a larger fiscal hole earlier this year before the board approved layoffs of over 400 non-faculty staff.
Mike Hutchinson, a vocal union critic on the school board, has insisted “there is no way our board can approve the new labor contract, because we can’t afford it.”
Still, almost everyone around the district agrees Oakland teachers are generally not paid enough to afford living in the city.
State data indicate the district’s average teacher earns $84,000 a year, ranking dead last in a list topped by the average San Leandro Unified teacher, whose annual salary is about $129,000.
“Even if we’re not working directly with” the union, said Linda Yamaguchi, another Oakland Fund official, “we see a lot of alignment in the ultimate goal of making sure our educators can be part of the community.”
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at shomik@bayareanewsgroup.com.