A nonprofit preschool in New Haven is taking the next step in its effort to provide free housing for many of its teachers.
In Connecticut, early childhood educators make an average salary of less than $30,000 annually, making it hard to afford basic needs like rent.
In his current living situation, Friends Center for Children teacher Eric Gil shares a room with his brother and cousin.
Gil and his younger brother will be moving into a new house on Howard Street this fall, along with Gil’s coworker, Justin Cross. The three men will live rent free.
“It will give me and my younger brother our own space where my worries will be fewer and so that I can perform my job even better,” Gil said.
Gil currently drives 50 minutes to work each day, and was pinpointed for the program by the school’s emotional and well-being program director.
“Though I wanted to participate, I never dare to ask, because I don't like to ask them for help. It makes me very embarrassed,” Gil said.
The home was constructed by Yale School of Architecture graduate students for the Center, as part of the schools’ partnership. Friends Center’s Teacher Housing Initiative was created in 2021 and organizers say it is the first of its kind in the county.
Providing a livable wage for early childhood educators
By 2028, Friends Center plans to expand its teacher force to 80 and provide free housing for 24 teachers, or 30% of its staff, according to Executive Director Allyx Schiavone.
“This removes the largest monthly expense from our teachers’ personal budgets, without burdening our families with higher tuition costs or creating an increase in our annual fundraising needs,” Schiavone said.
Annually, the U.S. loses $122 billion in revenue through inadequate investment in education systems for children three and under, Schiavone said.
“I've heard the teachers many times when they talk about this initiative, they talk about that it's a privilege, and I just want to reframe that and say it's actually what they deserve,” Schiavone said. “It's not a privilege. It's what we should be doing.”
“As a result of our teacher housing initiative, Friends Center was able to increase average salaries, paying about $17,500 more per year than the average teacher salary in Connecticut,” Schiavone said.
Building an innovative town-gown partnership
The Howard Street home is the second of five that’ll be constructed by Yale for Friends Center. It’s separated into two-bedroom and one-bedroom apartments, joined in the middle by a common living room and kitchen. The first home, a duplex on the same lot, was completed in November, after the first two properties for the teacher homes were donated to the school in 2019.
The homes are designed by the Yale architecture students, with input from Friends Center teachers.
The students “do everything from pouring the concrete to framing to roofing, to cabinetry work, to flooring, soup to nuts,” according to Yale School of Architecture professor Adam Hopfner.
“Architecture is at its best a service when its creativity is inspired by those whom the architecture serves,” Hopfner said.
