By Howard Fischer | Arizona Capitol Times
Key Points:
- Arizona has a shortage of affordable rental housing and too many schools
- Sen. John Kavanagh proposes converting schools into affordable housing for teachers and critical workers
- Declining student enrollment and rising charter schools contribute to surplus school properties
Arizona has too few affordable rentals.
And it has too many schools.
Now, Sen. John Kavanagh thinks he’s found a way to convert the two problems into a solution: Allow those schools to be sold off or leased to be made into housing for teachers and other government and critical workers.
The idea, said the Fountain Hills Republican, may sound far fetched.
He acknowledged that school buildings were designed and built with a specific purpose in mind, providing classrooms, offices, and bathrooms scattered throughout. But Kavanagh said there’s no reason they cannot be repurposed.
“That’s an architectural question,” Kavanagh said.
“There was a time when people said they could never do that because only the core of the building had plumbing, and all that stuff,” Kavanagh said. “They’re converting office buildings right now to residential.”
