After our incredible 750-strong rally at the Board of Education on May 9th and a substantial amount of intense media coverage, last week Mayor Ed Lee committed $44 million to build housing for UESF members at 1360 43rd Avenue, the site of the old principals center. The announcement and the financial commitment is a significant step forward in goal to build housing for educators, moving the process out of the conceptual and towards actually breaking ground.

While welcome news, its important to remember that the construction of educator housing is only one of the key strategies UESF is pursuing to ensure a place in San Francisco for teachers and paras. We must also continue the work of organizing to raise educator wages to meet the growing cost of living, and continue working towards bringing more revenue into our schools either through statewide or local revenue measures. Finally, UESF has been at the table working to ensure a real affordable housing agenda is implemented in San Francisco. UESF Political Director Ken Tray was instrumental in helping city leaders reach consensus on an inclusionary housing policy just last week. Read more here.