staticfiles finder which allows you to use STATIC_ROOT for hosting static files on development server

finders.py

from django.contrib.staticfiles.finders import DefaultStorageFinder
from django.conf import settings
from django.core.files.storage import FileSystemStorage


class StaticRootFinder(DefaultStorageFinder):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        self.storage = FileSystemStorage(location=settings.STATIC_ROOT, base_url=settings.STATIC_URL)
        super(StaticRootFinder, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)


# settings.py:
# STATICFILES_FINDERS = (
#    'django.contrib.staticfiles.finders.AppDirectoriesFinder',
#    'path.to.finders.StaticRootFinder'
# )