Landed: Helping Educators Live in the Communities They Serve

“The more teachers can stay in their communities and build roots, those benefits pour out to the students,” said Carol Yoo, Landed homeowner.

Last year, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative teamed up with Landed–an organization that partners with local investors to cover up to 50% of the down payment for an educator’s home– to help teachers and school staff in the Bay Area buy homes near where they work.  It’s all about making home ownership more accessible for people who want to buy and can already qualify for a mortgage, but are struggling to save for a big enough down payment.

The fund aims to give local school districts — specifically in Redwood City, Ravenswood City, and Sequoia Union High School districts in California–another tool to help improve educator retention and recruitment.  In addition, the program shows traditional investors that there is a new way they can help support teachers in their communities.

Since the launch, numerous educators and their families in the San Francisco Bay Area have purchased and moved into homes through this fund. They include classroom teachers, administrators, school support staff, and a custodian and his family. The first couple to use the CZI fund were Carol Yoo and Fidel Mora, who purchased a single-family home in San Francisco.

Initially open to three school districts,  the fund is now expanding to the entire counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara to open access to even more districts in the region.

And this year, we’re helping to expand the program across the country.  Through support of Landed’s U.S. Educator Housing Fund, educators in expensive cities across the country, including San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Salt Lake City, Honolulu, and Austin, will also have access to financial support.

About Landed:

Landed was founded in 2015 with the goal of partnering with local investors to cover up to 50% of the down payment for an educator’s home.  Once a school district decides to work with Landed, Landed finds local investors to help fund home purchases for educators who may be locked out of the market due to high housing costs.  Landed also works with the educator to find a home near where they work.

About the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Housing Affordability Work:

As part of the organization’s Justice and Opportunity Initiative, our housing program

focuses on supporting local partners who are developing and leading impactful work to improve access, affordability, and equity in housing. To date, we’ve partnered with groups like Eviction Lab, which is building the first nationwide database of evictions; a coalition of local housing leaders, who are coming together with their diverse constituencies to develop a regional solutions plan to address shared challenges; and the Terner Center at UC Berkeley, whose innovative research aims to shape policy and private sector solutions to housing issues nationally.