Alaska teachers' forced housing

[Gary2]

I got asked this by a friend who's a teacher, and thinking of moving north. Apparently some remote school districts in Alaska require their teachers to live in housing owned by the district, and take the rent out of their paycheck. He was told that there's a way to deduct that amount because it's forced housing.

As near as I can figure from searching the web, that's a common urban myth, or perhaps an Alaskan tundra wilderness myth. The only thing close is that there's probably no imputed income from living in subsidized housing. (And even then, I found section 119 impossible to parse.) I don't think the rent can be deductible, even though it meets the "necessary" test.

But since he's a close friend, I thought I'd ask for additional opinions.

[Snaggletooth]

Myth

...very much like early 20th century cotton mills in the south, where the workers were paid not in dollars but in scrip, and the scrip wasn't legal tender anywhere except the company store.

From an old Jim & Jesse Bluegrass song:
"The company owns the grocery and the company owns the grammar school.
You'll never find an educated Cotton Mill Man.."

Gary, the Alaska thing is a myth I believe. If anything, a case could be made for adding the fair rental value of the houses onto the W-2.