Workforce housing: Can we make a difference?
Everybody talks about it, but how are we going to do something about it?
That’s the perpetual question surrounding the huge challenge of finding sufficient housing for our employees – before it is too late.
Cape Business asked Rick Presbrey, founder and CEO of the Housing Assistance Corporation, about a call to action recently released by HAC and the Cape Cod Business Roundtable on workforce housing.
The issue of sufficient workforce housing is an intractable problem on the Cape. Are there short-term steps that can make an immediate difference and offer a business owner the sense he or she can do something about the challenge?
An employee with a housing problem is not likely to be a good employee. Therefore, many employers will find it advantageous to take advantage of existing resources to help its employees with this very stressful issue. HAC is willing to partner with any employer on exploring what solutions might benefit its employees. They can access HAC technical assistance, educational or financial programs or products to help meet individual employees’ short-term needs. A new concept in the works is the Workforce Rental Assistance Program. A consortium of business owners would fund this program by contributing an agreed-upon sum. The money raised would assist employees of these businesses by finding rental housing, helping those having difficulty paying rent for current residences or funding housing redevelopment and development projects.
Could enough money be raised through individual businesses to make a real difference?
In some communities outside this region, individual businesses – particularly large employers – do find the investment in workforce housing to be worthwhile and necessary. Recognizing that there are few really large employers on the Cape, we can extend a business’s investment by leveraging other matching funds. Cape towns have another tool in the Community Preservation Act, and can dedicate the maximum amount of those funds to workforce housing initiatives.
Are there other steps HAC wants to see happen as soon as possible?
We would like the county to immediately conduct an analysis of workforce housing needs now and in the future. This regional evaluation should include housing-type needs, including those for commuters, immigrant workers and seasonal workers. The housing needed for our workers must be prioritized. How many multifamily rentals, condominium units, top-of-the-shop housing, accessory apartments, small cottages or single-family homes do we need for a balanced housing stock? The problem is we are losing the workforce we now have, failing to retain our talented high school and college graduates, and failing in many cases to be able to attract off-Cape talent because of high housing costs.
We also believe the county should hire a regional housing planner within the Cape Cod Commission as a resource to the region and individual towns. This position would gather data, analyze it, create and update the regional housing study, and identify appropriate locations and types for workforce housing.
We also seek a workforce housing overlay district model bylaw by next June. This would allow higher densities for affordable workforce housing developments in appropriate town and commercial center locations where such proposals integrate with smart-growth principles.
The Housing Assistance Corporation, government and many other organizations have long used the term “affordable” housing. Now the emphasis is on “workforce.” Why?
For years, we’ve contemplated the housing problem from a social perspective, that is, housing for those in the greatest need.
But as housing prices continue to increase faster than incomes, the economic sustainability of Cape Cod is in jeopardy. You know there’s something in the air when affordable housing becomes a priority of the largest employers in our business community.
The housing crisis is now affecting a broader segment of the population than was impacted five years ago. The availability and cost of rental units is generally not within the reach of families even with incomes as high as 150 percent of the region’s median. Our goal with the Business Roundtable is to create housing opportunities that meet the housing needs of a diversified population, from young people starting out in their careers to middle managers and seasoned professionals. Every worker plays a critical role in the sustainability and vitality of Cape Cod.
We continue to see opposition to rental housing developments in a place dominated by single-family residences.
As a reaction to all the development we have experienced, many Cape Codders are opposed to all development of any kind. Adding rental housing does not mean large-scale new development and an influx of people “on welfare,” as the stereotype often asserts. The bulk of rental units will likely be provided as part of mixed-use redevelopment elements in village centers. Top-of-the-shop or gallery/studio housing, townhouse and multi-family in-fill development are ideal for these locations.
Single-family homes located on large lots near village centers or growth nodes should be given the option to create, by right, small apartments that are deed restricted to rental by anyone working full time in Barnstable County. Businesses should be allowed to use portions of their property for appropriate types of employee housing.
Most of us started out in rental housing.
Why should Cape Cod act now?
Over the years, Cape Cod towns have made an enormous land-use commitment to single-family homes on individual lots. They represent 83 percent of our housing units. These residents, ironically, generate increased demand for a relatively large number of lower-wage “service” jobs. As the huge cohort of baby boomers reaches retirement age and begins (or continues) retiring here over the next decade, market pressures on Cape Cod real estate will likely increase and so too will demand for low-wage employees.
At the same time, there is a relatively large number of 10- to 19-year-olds living here who will become young adults looking to start new households over the next decade. Current trends suggest that most will leave the Cape.
There has been a long-standing image of people needing affordable housing as being very poor, often without jobs – sometimes even homeless. Is this a stereotype hard to erase?
Over the last five years – until this recent housing slowdown – the residential real estate market had appreciated 139 percent while the median family income here rose only 33.5 percent. That gap between real estate values and incomes is still expected to widen over the next five years.
The Barnstable County average annual wage is $34,008. With a median home priced at $379,900, the annual income needed to purchase that house is $105,000. The affordability gap is simply prohibitive for these workers.
Meanwhile, there is a scarcity of rental housing compared with other urban and suburban areas across the state. An analysis of our current rental-housing inventory shows we are experiencing a deficit of at least 1,800 units.
Even then, the median rent for a two-bedroom unit on Cape Cod – if it can be located – is $1,000 per month. The average wage earner can only afford about $800 a month for rent.
Nevertheless, the stereotype lives on. Hopefully it will die soon.
Over time, what steps need to be taken to comprehensively address the workforce housing gap?
Our Workforce Housing Steering Committee has identified five action areas: project development; community awareness; financing, lending and revenue; land use and public policy; and employee housing benefits.
Key to project development will be partnerships with businesses and local communities, as well as nonprofit developers such as HAC and the Falmouth Housing Corporation.
Community awareness will require a speakers’ bureau and political outreach.
On the financing side, we seek local and legislative approval for a Cape Cod Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Also, a Capewide Rental Assistance and Housing Development program for employers and their employees. In the private sector, we encourage greater reliance on 40-year mortgages and secondary market acceptance of deed restrictions for rental apartments in single-family homes.
On the regulatory front, we encourage increased building heights, reduced sideline requirements, greyfield redevelopment and top-of-the-shop housing – as well as deed-restricted accessory apartments in single-family homes.
We also advocate seasonal workforce dormitories and the conversion of cottage colonies and motels to affordable rental or ownership housing.
Finally, we need to educate employees how to find housing and to accurately and comprehensively survey housing needs for employers and their workers.
Originally published in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Cape Business.
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