Housing our Teachers

Kent Affordable Housing’s mission is to develop, sustain, and advocate for affordable housing in the town of Kent. Our homes are priced for people who earn what many of Kent’s working residents earn. That includes teachers at Kent Center School, the town’s highway crew and office staff, aides who care for older neighbors, and the people who work in our shops, restaurants and farms. Many of these jobs pay salaries well within the income range affordable housing is designed to serve, yet Kent’s rental market offers them almost nothing within reach. Our homes are open to anyone who meets the income guidelines. Teachers are a clear example of who those guidelines include.

Teachers are among the most important people in our town. They know our children by name, coach after school, run the eighth-grade trip and the spring play, and often become the adults kids remember for life. When teachers live in town, they’re part of the community beyond the classroom: at the post office, at town meetings, in the stands on game day. Living close by also lets them stay late, get in early on a snow day, and put down roots.

That’s hard to do in Kent, especially early in a career, when many teachers are single and renting. A first-year Kent Center School teacher earns $51,175. Under the standard guideline that housing should cost no more than 30% of income, that’s about $1,280 a month in rent. Seven years in, at $67,797, it’s about $1,700. In October 2026, the only one-bedroom apartments listed for rent in Kent were asking $2,150 and $2,300, close to double what a starting teacher can afford. Rental searches we’ve run in recent years have consistently found Torrington, about 40 minutes away, to be the only place with listings a starting teacher could afford.

KCS Salaries that Qualify for Affordable Housing

The table below shows which Kent Center School salaries qualify for affordable housing. Choose a household size and school year to see how the picture changes.