By Brittany Kelley KYLE — Over the past year, Hays CISD has been working toward increasing its competitiveness in the hiring market, but now, it is taking it to the next level by partnering with Upward Communities to create an affordable housing neighborhood for its staff.
“Our board wants us to be unrivaled [and] employee friendly; that is the charge that they’ve given the district and so, we take that very seriously and we’re constantly looking for ways to create better compensation or benefits for our employees,” said Chief Human Resources Officer Christina Courson.
According to Courson, the district has been working to provide affordable housing for its staff for the past year. In September 2023, the Texas Workforce Housing Foundation worked with district staff to enter into a partnership that would discount rents at specific apartment complexes. Currently, The Chloe and Oasis at Plum Creek, both located in Kyle, participate by offering a set number of units to Hays CISD staff at a discounted rate.
Exclusive rates at Oasis at Plum Creek range from $950 for a classic one bedroom to $1,450 for a classic three bedroom, reads a Texas Educator Housing Affordability Fund (TEHAF) flyer, not including the additional $250 that is made per month by the TEHAF, which lowers the prices to $700 and $1,200, respectively.
As of February 2025, there are 39 Hays CISD educators taking advantage of this program, with an estimated 54 employees by August 2025.
“This was our first step into, like, ‘What could this look like?’” explained Courson.
The partnership is free of charge and works through the district advertising the opportunities available. This relationship style will be replicated in a new subdivision to be created with Upward Communities, said Courson, which was presented to the Hays CISD Board of Trustees in December 2024.
Upward Communities founder and chairman Jason Roberts noted that the idea for the project came after a city manager discussed providing a discount for government employees 18 months ago because the retention rate was low: “We found out the school districts wrestled getting hammered twice as bad … We became aware that if we could solve housing for school districts — who had the least amount of income — then we could solve housing for the city, the county and other essential staff that makes more money.”
After researching for the project, Roberts reached out to Hays CISD Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright, who was immediately on board.
The reason that the development is able to provide the discount for district staff, said Roberts, is because there will be a lower interest rate for the project, since it is being built for a school. The chairman will also be donating profits from his other businesses.
Regarding home ownership, Roberts did specify that this is a renting-only program, but that this is the first step in getting school staff more stable. He noted that all maintenance and repairs on the home will be handled by Upward Communities, so, in addition to having lower rent, staff will not have to be concerned with traditional surprise costs that come with home ownership, such as paying for a new water heater, and can instead put the extra money toward a down payment in the future.
Although rent has not yet been determined, the chairman’s goal is to have the cost below 80% of Area Median Income. He also stated that his team is going to attempt to be creative and offer other opportunities to lessen the costs further, such as giving teachers the opportunity to rent out a bedroom to a non-district roommate.
These opportunities are strictly to bring more retention and competition to the district, both Courson and Roberts explained.
“Every time you lose a staff member it costs the school district $20,000 to retrain, restaff, reposition … So, you could sit there and say, ‘What are you losing? Let’s stop the loss.’ Okay, now then, ‘What do you need? Special education teachers. Okay, let’s go recruit those special education teachers and offer this as a benefit,’” said Roberts.
Courson expanded on this idea by stating that the district could focus on hiring certain positions that are needed by reserving a number of plots for those staff members, whether it be special education, bus drivers or bilingual teachers.
“All we are doing is offering this as a benefit, just as we would advertise health insurance or dental insurance,” she continued. “This helps with our recruitment efforts, but it also helps with retention efforts for staff who may be struggling with higher rents elsewhere.”
Beginning with 300 single family homes, Roberts’ team has evaluated six potential plots throughout the district, and although it is preparing for one neighborhood, he hopes to eventually retain more for future communities, if the first is well received.
The district does expect the 300 homes to be filled, Courson continued, but if there were to be any vacancies, there is a fund being created by Upward Communities that the district can pull from for up to six months, which will pay the rent that would have been paid by a staff member. If after those six months, the house is still not filled, then staff will reevaluate how many homes they want to keep for the district and potentially place some at market rate for regular tenants.
Although the target is for staff members, Roberts emphasized that, ultimately, they want to ensure that community members reside in the home for a significant duration of time. He recalled a member of the Transportation Department note that he wants to retire in the district, so he’s concerned that he will be forced to move out: “I’m going to try to create a legacy row program, where, if you do retire, we incentivize you and you can stay in that house for many more years. There’s a lot of things that we’re inventing and a lot of things that we’re doing with the best of intentions.”
According to the founder, the next steps include presenting the district with site design and amenities for the community, such as a childcare facility, community work sites and more, though, the initial vision of the community is similar to Roberts’ own favorite neighborhood — Seaside, Florida — which he stated was originally built for teachers. The community has a pedestrian feel, he described, with a town center and amenities that aren’t offered at a typical apartment complex.
“Then, we’re going to give the school district the unit mix, which will be [asking of] the 300: how many one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom, four bedroom houses will be in there. The superintendent will sign the lease after we've finalized the design,” he said.
Roberts hopes to have the first staff members moving into homes by the end of August, as the company wants to fill the houses as fast as they can build them, but plan to complete the community as a whole within an estimated 18 to 24 months.
“I think this is going to set Hays [CISD] up as a premier school district. I think they’re going to get some of the best staff, not in Texas, in the country because they’re going to be one of the first ones to have this type of offering. I think our school districts and our children will ultimately benefit by having the most amazing staff,” concluded Roberts.
