Emily Griffith Technical College barber educator Lymon Sneed knows the struggle to afford housing in Denver has other teachers considering leaving the profession.
"I have not, yet," he said. "I would like to get ahead of the game and put myself in a position where I don't have to think about that."
The week after Denver Public Schools classes ended, Sneed and a dozen colleagues were back in a classroom at Emily Griffith's downtown campus to study a program to help teachers buy homes. Last month Emily Griffith became the first college in Colorado to connect its staff with Landed, a company that offers down payment assistance, homebuyer education and financial coaching to school teachers and staff in high-cost areas across the country. Emily Griffith is the only post-secondary institution in Denver Public Schools, which began linking teachers in its other schools to Landed last year.
Landed has philanthropic funders interested in education and community development such as the ZOMA Foundation, which supports children's programs in metro Denver. Landed also has the kind of mission usually associated with a nonprofit. But as Sneed and his colleagues learned at a presentation Tuesday, it is a for-profit company. Landed considers its contribution of up to 10 percent of the down payment on a home an investment. When buyers who participate sell their homes at a profit, Landed takes a cut. Landed absorbs part of the loss if things don't go well.
Landed's profits on sales are used to help other educators buy homes. Landed makes money on fees paid by realtors participants must use. Participants also must use lenders vetted by Landed.
The company started in 2015 in the San Francisco Bay area where, as Paula Davis who works for Landed in Denver said, "housing challenges are even more frightening."
Denver was among the first cities to which Landed expanded. It also now works in southern California, Seattle and Hawaii. It has helped hundreds of teachers, more than 20 in DPS, buy homes, Davis said. Davis is an East High School alum who taught at an independent Denver middle school before turning her attention to teacher housing and joining Landed.
According to results released last month by researchers for the online real estate company Trulia, Denver is the third least affordable housing market for teachers among 55 large U.S. metro areas. Only 5.4 percent of available homes would be comfortably within reach of teachers in Denver. The average single-family home price in May was $555,482, according to the latest report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.
Barber instructor Sneed said he had looked into buying about the time he started working at Emily Griffith two years ago. He quickly became discouraged. Watching his rent steadily increase -- Denver's median two-bedroom rent of $1,360 is above the national average of $1,190, according to a recent Apartment List report -- has led Sneed again to consider buying.
A 20-year Denver resident, Sneed said, "I've seen when it was easy. I've seen it when it was hard. I've seen quite a few changes in the housing situation in Denver."
He liked what he saw of Landed. After Tuesday's presentation, he said he would fill out an application for the program.
Corrects previous version: Davis taught at an independent middle school in Denver.
