Are you a PreK–12 public school employee looking for quality housing you can afford?

TRiO Plus Affordable Housing Marketplace

We are building a coalition of public and private community stakeholders to ensure teachers of color can afford to live in the cities they teach and our kids stop paying the price for our broken housing system.

The TRiO Plus Affordable Housing Marketplace is the only place that provides educators with special discounts on quality rental housing. Savings on rent average over $2,000 per year. 

If you are an educator, contact us to find out more about how you can secure discounted housing through TRiO Plus.

By opting units into the marketplace, property owners and managers not only gain access to great tenants, but support their communities by rooting teachers in the neighborhoods where they teach. Landlords can also benefit from lower vacancy, unit tour, and marketing costs, which can be particularly beneficial during the lease-up phase of new development projects.

Better schools help drive higher property values, so many of our collaborating landlords view their participation as not only the right thing to do for their communities, but as an investment in their properties and portfolios.

If you are a property owner or manager, please contact us to find out about gaining access to the marketplace and find out more about how you can be part of solving our affordable housing crisis!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  • The TRiO Plus Affordable Housing Marketplace (“Marketplace”) is where public school district employees can find rental housing with discounts and benefits just for them. Discounted units are contributed by participating housing providers interested in renting to teachers and other district employees (collectively, “educators”). This helps housing providers fill vacancies with successful tenancies while helping educators serve our kids.

    Units from participating housing providers are listed on the TRiO Plus Affordable Housing Marketplace. Each listing includes details on educator-specific discounts and benefits. When educators are interested in a unit, TRiO Plus facilitates the connection with the provider of that unit, and the educator can tour and apply directly. We also ensure the educator has access to our associated services, from security deposit support to free financial coaching.

  • No. TRiO Plus only lists housing from independent, third-party housing providers who have agreed to a discount and benefits package just for educators. 

  • No. TRiO Plus negotiates discounted rent on behalf of educators. Educators are responsible for paying their rent on time and adhering to all provisions of their lease, just like any other tenant.

    As a small and partial exception, TRiO Plus currently maintains some limited housing stipend programs offered in partnership with the OUSD Oakland Teacher Residency and Classified-to-Teacher (“C2T”) programs.

  • At this time, only Oakland Unified School District employees (“educators”) qualify for this program. To find out more about qualifying for TRiO Plus, please contact us directly at support@trioplus.org. 

  • TRiO Plus provides additional services to educators who find housing through its Marketplace. This includes personalized housing search assistance, as well as financial wellness services: a Security Deposit Payment Program, a moving cost grant, and free one-on-one financial coaching. 

    Financial coaching is available to all educators, whether or not they find housing through our Marketplace.

  • At this time, only teachers employed by the Oakland Unified School District qualify for this program. To find out more about qualifying for TRiO Plus, please contact us directly.

  • A minimal role. Once a lease has been signed, the primary relationship is between the housing provider and educator who rents from them. We do offer free one-on-one coaching to all educators at any time during their lease. 

  • At this time, only housing in the city of Oakland is available on the Marketplace. We are actively evaluating expansion possibilities. Contact us to find out about making the Marketplace available for educators where you live.

  • As a rule, all units on the Marketplace carry some special discount and/or benefit package just for educators, and only available through TRiO Plus. Rent discounts vary, but we aim to partner with housing providers who grant an 8-10% discount or its equivalent.

    Generally, this results in one free month of rent. Educators can see each unit’s pricing on the Marketplace.

  • Units are added to the Marketplace and maintained by the TRiO Plus staff - there is no administrative burden on the landlord or property manager. If you are a housing provider looking to partner, please contact jack@trioplus.org.

  • TRiO Plus strongly encourages landlords and property managers to follow their standard processes in ensuring tenants qualify on a credit and income basis. 

    To support educators in understanding affordability, TRiO Plus listings have an “Affordability Meter” that shows each unit’s rent relative to household income. The final decision of whether to accept a housing application from a TRiO Plus educator is 100% at the discretion of the housing provider.