Housing + Education

Housing & Education Policy Breakfast

NPH member Eden Housing, our subregional partner Housing Trust Silicon Valley and Microsoft hosted a Housing & Education Policy Breakfast in May.

Featured speakers Deb McKoy from UC Berkeley Center for Cities and Schools, Muhammed Chaudhry from Silicon Valley Education Foundation, Chris Funk from East Side Union High School, Jennifer Peck from Partnership for Children and Youth, Sunne McPeak from California Emerging Technology Fund and Linda Mandolini, President of Eden Housing, focused on housing as a key input to education outcomes.

Deb shared that 2/3 of educational success is contingent upon non-school factors, with affordable and healthy homes topping the list. As those that work in housing know, students often bounce between schools while their parents search desperately for a permanent home. Superintendent Funk noted that while students who change schools just one time in the school year are 50% LESS likely to graduate, some students in his district change high-schools 8-9 times in a year.

Key takeaways from the breakfast include solutions that support both housing and education:

• Build more quality homes

• Focus on inclusionary housing for naturally diverse schools with better overall education outcomes

• Connect school and education workers with housers to break down silos

• Push educators, as well as transit, public health, and technology folks to tell their legislators that housing matters

For a full podcast of the discussion please click here. To learn more about Housing + Education or to join an NPH Working Group contact Pilar@nonprofithousing.org who has ideas on how to reach councilmembers who fight housing due to school capacity issues.