School employees get a lending hand School employees get a lending hand (December 24, 2004)

3-year-old parent organization gives assistance to district staff buying a house

by Alexandria Rocha

If it wasn't for a community driven program called Project HOT, either John Lents's family would still be hopping from rental to rental, or Addison Elementary School would be out of a principal.

With the help of HOT, or Housing Options for Teachers, Lents is just one of 28 Palo Alto Unified School District employees who have been able to buy their own homes and remain nearby.

"We were seriously contemplating moving out of the area and just accepting that we would never be able to buy a home," said John's wife, PJ Lents, a district teacher.

In an area full of high-tech families living on six-figure salaries, where the homes cost a fortune and the real estate market is incredibly competitive, teachers and other district employees have a tough time purchasing homes. At the same time, many parents and district officials feel it's crucial for school employees to live in the community where they work. Three years ago a group of Gunn parents - who feared the school would lose some of its quality young teachers because of the housing situation - developed HOT and began to look at ways to help provide housing to teachers in the district.

In 2003, the median home price in Palo Alto was $1.07 million. A beginning teacher in the district starts at $44,268, while a veteran teacher with 30 years or more experience makes less than double that at $89,394. Teachers haven't seen a raise in two years. "I don't think it's ever been easy for teachers to afford housing around here. Most of the teachers are renting," said Cranmer-Brown, who also has a daughter at Terman Middle School and two sons that are Gunn High School graduates.

HOT conducted a survey aimed at assessing teachers' housing needs. It revealed that more than 80 percent of the district's certified staff would be open to some kind of rental or mortgage assistance. The survey also reported that 43 percent had plans to leave their teaching jobs in five years or less.

It was a disturbing revelation for those involved at the time.

"That's a heartbreaker," Barbara Spreng, president of the Palo Alto Council of PTA's, said then.

HOT is now a well-established coalition of parents, teachers, community members and district administrators dedicated to finding a solution. The idea started as a way to help teachers, but it has expanded to all district employees. The goal is to help 100 people.

The project is administered through the Transpac Mortgage Group in Los Altos, which was brought on board through Gunn parent Fran Codispoti, who already knew the group's managing broker, Bob Cranmer-Brown.

With his help, teachers' closing costs on a home are essentially waved. He has developed a network of various companies, including real estate agents, appraisers and lenders, who have agreed to give back part of their fees. He said the range of savings has been between $5,000 to $15,000, with the average resting just more than $8,000 per recipient.

The only requirement is that the employees stay with the district for three years after the sale, or they have to pay the benefit back.

Since Lents moved into his home just blocks from Addison nearly two years ago, he runs into parents and students while walking his dog and grocery shopping.

"When you live in the community, you become part of the fabric. That's essential for a principal," said John, sitting with PJ in their Middlefield Road home.

Recipient Lisa Scott, a kindergarten teacher at Escondido Elementary School, was able to purchase a four-bedroom, two- and-one-half bath house in Mountain View with the help of HOT. She and her husband have been in the home since August 2003.

"There are so many teachers who cannot live in the area. They are in San Mateo, South San Francisco, San Jose, they're anywhere but Palo Alto," she said.

Depending on what the employee is looking for, whether it's a condominium in Mountain View or a house in Willow Glen, Cranmer-Brown makes a match with one of the 20 network realtors who is an expert in that specific area.

"It helps you get over that little hump of 'Can we do it or not?' Yes we can do it, and we can make it work," said Scott. "My husband works in high-tech and so his salary is decent, but we have a baby on the way and with all that going on, my salary just covers the extra stuff."

For more information, visit www.projecthot.org.

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