Pay teachers more so they can afford housing

While I completely agree that we should be paying teachers and other school workers a living wage, I think what Daly City has done in creating affordable, beautiful, comfortable, and in many cases walkable to work housing is a model other cities should follow. Having grown up in, what you refer to as "the projects," was something that gave my parents, a shipping and receiving clerk and a medical center assistant, the chance to raise three kids surrounded by a beautiful diversity of other working people, a great community located a short walk away from schools and most importantly the lifeline of workers, the New York subway system.

I think for young teachers entering the workforce to have housing like that which is offered in Daly City is a good way to go. Let's encourage more of that as well as better pay.

Thanks, Esther, for a thoughtful LTE.

I agree that folks who provide valuable services to our communities deserve a living wage, and if housing was made available to them, we would want such housing to be safe and someplace they would be proud to call home.

How much would you suggest is a living wage? With taxes already very high, how much more would you propose taxing folks in Burlingame to raise educators' salaries? Would compromising other services to provide a living wage for teachers be a way to accomplish your goals?

You have touched on a very real problem, and there are no easy answers. Perhaps something like Craig has suggested will work... good pay and good housing.