Ten DPS teachers move into a new apartment complex rent-free for a year

DENVER – As Denver educators prepare to return to school, some teachers have one less thing to worry about as the new school year begins.

Ten teachers will live rent-free for a full year at Skyline at Highland, a brand new apartment complex.

Thanks to a partnership between real estate firm Grand Peaks and the Denver Public Schools (DPS) Foundation, this is the first time a real estate company has donated free housing to teachers in this way.

The educators were selected at random in a drawing this summer.

Teachers with zero to three years of experience in DPS were eligible to participate.

“(Denver) is not an easy place to live and find affordable housing, so that’s a challenge. And as we know, teachers also spend a lot of money out of their own pocket on classroom materials and school supplies to support their students. So if we can alleviate a burden like the housing issue, I think that will really solve some of their other problems,” said Sara Hazel, CEO of the DPS Foundation.

Grand Peaks President Marc Swerdlow told Denver7 it was important for the company to give back in a tangible way – he called the drawing “creative philanthropy.”

Ten DPS teachers move into a new apartment complex rent-free for a year

Considering how much work teachers do while also struggling with inflation and high rents in the Denver metropolitan area, the decision was clear.

“We thought, ‘We have a lot of units, why don’t we give them to the teachers?’ And it just evolved and it’s a huge opportunity for our industry to do something like this and give something great back to the community,” Swerdlow said.

Joe Dailey, an English teacher at CEC Early College, was one of ten lucky teachers selected for this opportunity.

“Half of the money I’m going to save I’m going to put into some sort of Roth IRA for retirement and the other half I’m probably going to save for a down payment to buy my own house or apartment at some point, which I really haven’t seen any way of doing in the future,” Dailey said. “So this is just a great path to homeownership for me and the family I want to have someday.”

Swerdlow told Denver7 Grand Peaks that they are considering expanding the program’s reach beyond this year.

While it’s unclear what that might look like, they’re working with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s office to develop ideas.

Grand Peaks hopes to replicate this initiative at its other locations across the country.