Communication studies professor Danielle Powell, center, says that moving into the new 30-unit faculty housing complex at Skyline College will help her take better care of her mother and relieve a lot or worry.
A 30-unit housing complex at Skyline College in San Bruno opened its doors to employees and faculty as a way to offer affordable housing and recruit and retrain employees and faculty in the San Mateo County Community College District.
The goal is to help faculty, such as communication studies professor Danielle Powell. “Because of this housing, I am able to recover from debt and take care of a sick mother,” Powell said. “And, it’s only because of living in this housing that I am able to do that.”
Before living on campus, she would rush home from school because parking options nearby were terrible and left her walking blocks away from the house.
“When you do that kind of work, you are not on a clock, there is no nine to five hours for our job. So, to live in a place where you can come home and you don’t have to worry about when you come home, where you are going to park, you don’t have to worry about whether or not you are safe, and all that matters,” Powell said.
She has worked for the district for nine years and one of the reasons she took the job was because of the on-campus housing.
“I couldn’t stay and be able to do the great things that I am able to do now, which is not only teaching classes in the communications department but running an amazing program,” Powell said.
The 2-acre site houses two 15-unit buildings that overlook the baseball field and adds to the 104 units the district already houses at two other county campuses. The housing was funded by selling off a 6-acre parcel. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified standard complex offers units of one-, two- and three-bedroom units and also has ADA compliant units. The units are rented exclusively to district employees at affordable, below-market rates.
San Bruno Mayor Rico Medina said he could never imagine, back when he attended CSM and Skyline, that the schools would develop housing on the campuses and what it means for the people who live there.
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“Hearing those folks who have lived in those units at the other two campuses to express what it did for them. How it got them the start, to build a foundation, so today, as mayor, I am very proud of these 30 units that will be here. ... It will be here for generations,” Medina said.
The district agreed to set aside, for the next 55 years, 11 of the units at an affordable rate, six of which would be for low-income workers and the rest for moderate-income employees. The district also agreed to pay a $320,000 affordable housing impact fee, in lieu of one very-low-income unit.
When the district first developed those campuses nearly 20 years ago, it was the first and only community college district in the state to offer employee housing.
“Our first complex College Vista was built on CSM campus in 2005 and has 42 units of housing, our second complex Cañada Vista was built in 2011 and has 60 units,” district Chancellor Michael Claire said.
The district next hopes for grant funding to build 300 student housing units at the CSM campus. The district serves more than 31,000 students each year and offers the first two years of instruction in a wide variety of degree and transfer programs, as well as vocational-technical programs.
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