In a bid to keep educators from being priced out of the city they serve, Oakland nonprofit Rooted has scooped up a 33-unit apartment building on Claremont Avenue and plans to rent the homes to Oakland Unified School District teachers and staff at roughly half of typical market rates. The five-story property sold for $12.6 million, and Rooted, a program of the Oakland Fund for Public Innovation, is billing the move as the opening salvo in a broader push to lock in long-term housing for local educators. Supporters say moves like this are less a perk and more a survival strategy for keeping teachers close to their schools.
The Building And The Deal
The complex, marketed as Idora Apartments at 5239 Claremont Ave in Temescal, was built in 2017 and offers 33 modern one- and two-bedroom units along with ground-floor retail, according to Connect CRE. Berkadia arranged the sale on behalf of seller St. Regis Properties, and trade notices put the price at roughly $380,000 per unit.
Who Will Get The Discounted Units
Rooted plans to reserve the apartments for Oakland Unified teachers and district employees and to offer rents at around half the going rate for similar market-rate units, as reported by NBC Bay Area. The nonprofit and the Oakland Fund say they are raising capital to acquire roughly 150 units for educators over the next three years, with this Temescal purchase serving as the flagship.
Rooted's Background And Goals
Rooted emerged from the TRiO Plus teacher-housing effort and formally became a program of the Oakland Fund for Public Innovation in 2025, according to Rooted. The organization reports that it has facilitated more than 220 leases for over 165 educators and operates an affordable-housing marketplace along with financial wellness supports intended to help teachers stay rooted in Oakland rather than relocating to cheaper suburbs.
How The Purchase Was Financed
Industry notices state that the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund provided financing for the acquisition and that ArtHaus Partners advised the Oakland Fund during the purchase, with the transaction closing on February 20, according to Yield Pro. The reporting also notes that the property sits next to a Whole Foods and includes amenities such as a rooftop terrace, secure parking and EV charging, perks that would normally be well out of reach for many teachers.
Why This Matters For Teachers
Housing costs have already pushed many Bay Area educators into punishing commutes or out of the profession altogether. A 2019 report from the Council of Community Housing Organizations found that only about one in 10 Bay Area educators could afford market-rate rent. Against that backdrop, local advocates say direct property purchases and long-term price guarantees like Rooted's approach could be one of the few practical tools districts have for retaining staff when they struggle to compete on salary alone.
What Comes Next
Rooted and the Oakland Fund say they plan to share more details on how the program will work later this spring and intend to combine philanthropic dollars with public financing to scale up acquisitions, according to industry reporting. If they can pull together the capital they are targeting and expand beyond this first 33 units, the model could offer a concrete template for other districts trying to recruit and keep teachers in the middle of unrelenting Bay Area housing pressures.
