More than 60% of Calistoga Joint Unified School District employees live outside the city they serve. Now, the district hopes to change that — by turning a long-unused, 16.4-acre property into a workforce housing development.

Located just off Highway 29, the parcel has sat idle since the district purchased it in 2003 with plans for a new school campus. Today, officials envision a mix of single-family homes and townhouses, with at least 20% of units set aside for district staff and other local workers.

“This is an effort to provide homes for staff so they can live in the community in which they serve,” Superintendent Audra Pittman said. The project would prioritize home ownership over rentals and target full-time residents. Market-rate units would help subsidize affordable ones for employees.

The district, which employs 123 people and serves about 800 students, is one of the largest employers in the city of 5,000. District officials aim to sell the land to a developer by late 2027, after securing necessary approvals from the city. By doing so, the district hopes to increase the site’s value and retain some control over how it’s developed, including ensuring below-market homes for staff.

Calistoga’s effort mirrors a growing trend among California school districts, especially in high-cost areas, to develop employee housing as a way to attract and retain staff. The 2016 Teacher Housing Act helped pave the way, and a 2022 report from UC Berkeley and UCLA found education agencies across the state own more than 75,000 acres of potentially developable land.

Calistoga Joint Unified officials began exploring housing options for the property over a year ago. In May 2024, they hired Brookwood Partners, an Oakland-based real estate advisory firm, to study the site’s feasibility for $95,000.

This spring, Brookwood presented findings to the school board showing that 54% of employees surveyed were interested in district housing.