District considers proposal to give teachers housing aid

Teachers in high-demand subjects soon might have a new incentive for joining or remaining in the Clark County School District: affordable home ownership.

If the School Board votes to enter into an agreement with the Nevada Housing Division today, dozens of teachers might choose to have long careers in Southern Nevada in exchange for their slice of the American dream.

For several years, district personnel have pegged Southern Nevada's expensive housing market as one of the primary culprits keeping teachers from taking jobs and pushing them out of the district.

Under the proposed agreement, dubbed Teachers First, the Nevada Housing Division would offer teachers -- most of whom would be first-time homeowners -- up to five years of payment assistance on a home or condominium mortgage for a maximum of $15,000.

Teachers would not have to start paying off the loan until their 61st month in the home. But teachers in the program who left the district before the conclusion of the fifth year in the home would have to pay off the loan immediately.

Maureen Fox, the district's liaison for Teacher First, said the proposal is meant to recruit more teachers and keep them in the district longer. She said that only teachers in the critical-needs areas of math, science and special education will be eligible.

"Anything we can do to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers in critical areas is essential for Clark County," Fox said.

Fox said the proposal could put a slight dent in the district's teacher shortage. The district began the school year short more than 350 permanent teachers. The majority of the vacancies were in the areas of math, science and special education.

If the School Board approves the plan, 187 loans will be available for district teachers.

Money for the program comes from tax-exempt bonds sold by the state's Housing Division. Maggie Cassara, a loan officer with the Nevada Housing Division, said her agency has about $4 million for teachers throughout the state. Fox said the district will have about $2.8 million of the state pot.

None of the loan funds would come from the school district.

According to backup material in the School Board's agenda, the maximum household income for eligible teachers in a two-person family would be $72,120. The maximum income for three-person families would be $84,140. The maximum cost of a new house could not exceed $360,000. Teachers could buy the home anywhere in the county, Cassara said.

The program also offers homes in areas the federal government is looking to revitalize. The homes in areas chosen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development can be pricier. The homes are not to exceed $440,000. Teachers in a two-person family could not have incomes that exceed $72,360 to be eligible. That price shoots up to $84,420 in three-person homes.

Interest on the loan would go at the market's bond rate, which is 5.95 percent for 40 years and 5.85 percent for 30 years, Cassara said.

Cassara said some teachers who are previous homeowners can qualify for the program if they have not lived in that home during the previous three years. But teachers who choose to move into homes targeted by HUD would not have any restrictions of owning previous homes if the house they move into in Clark County is their primary household, she said.

Cassara said she can envision teachers taking advantage of such a program by January.

Recent attempts by the district to help teachers get into the housing market have failed.

In June 2006, the district scrapped a program designed to help teachers become homeowners because it could not afford the staff to run it. In the initiative, called the Coming Home project, district officials worked with mortgage lenders, home counselors, Realtors and nonprofit agencies. The program was meant to make home buying more accessible and less complicated for teachers. The program lasted less than a year.

The district briefly considered a proposal in the summer of 2006 that would duplicate a program at the University of California, Irvine. The university's program provided low-cost housing for its faculty by having homeowners pay only for the home and not the lot the home is on. The university owned the land. Some School Board members were hesitant to move forward with the project because they did not want to get into the business of real estate, they said.

School Board member Mary Beth Scow said the district has been searching for years for a way to help teachers become homeowners. She said she liked the proposal and probably will support it because the Nevada Housing Division will be the primary agency navigating teachers in the real estate market.

Scow said the high cost of housing in the Las Vegas Valley has been a detriment to teachers for a long time.

"It's the housing market that has really been a stumbling block for teachers trying to get here," she said.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or (702) 799-2922.