The Covid Housing Crisis Is Crushing the Service Industry

[Nevilledog]

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Eoin Higgins
@EoinHiggins_
NEW: A Colorado brewpub's difficulty staffing up for the summer isn't due to unemployment checks or pay—it's the housing crisis.

The Covid Housing Crisis Is Crushing the Service Industry
"There's such a lack of housing, any time I run an ad there's no response"
eoinhiggins.substack.com
10:35 AM · Jun 15, 2021

https://eoinhiggins.substack.com/p/the-covid-housing-crisis-is-crushing

The service industry is in a labor crunch—and housing costs are making things worse

In tourist towns like Ouray, Colorado, high prices for homes and apartments are making attracting and keeping staff hard, if not impossible.

Local pub the Ouray Brewery called out the town's real estate market as the reason they were closing every night at 7:30pm in a Facebook post on June 5.

"We are closing earlier due to the proliferation of second home ownership and Vrbos in the City of Ouray and a directly related extreme shortage of any long-term rental properties available for employee housing," the brewery said.

*snip*

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. K&R. We're rapidly moving toward crises in several aspects of life and nibbling around the edges

isn't going to help.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Same problem here, and it's been going on for years.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. Even with the elevated prices I still get calls and texts and emails nearly every day from investors

wanting to buy my place.

I really think wealthy people across the entire world are trying to invest in US property right now.

They want to buy it all up and make us all renters that they can abuse.

[bahboo]

9. same here...and I totally agree with your opinion...

about the wealthy. Not to mention corporations...

[crud]

4. I just saw a news report like this about Tahoe

Same problem, people can't afford to live there.

[gay texan]

5. (I love that brewery) n/t

[Wingus Dingus]

6. With fewer or no bars or restaurants in high cost areas,

it's the VRBO/Air B and B renters who will end up having to commute. How about supermarkets and gas stations, too? Who's going to ring them up? I wouldn't want to be "stranded" in a beautiful area with no goods or services nearby--I have a lot of experience with that already as an RV'er, and we plan our trips better now, no more extremely remote campgrounds. I wouldn't want to drop a lot of gas money and waste my vacation time driving 50-100 miles round trip every day just to eat somewhere.

[moose65]

7. Same thing is true in many tourist areas

I went to the Outer Banks in mid-May. Many restaurants had limited hours or were doing takeout only. The Burger King was closed completely. Many locally owned bakeries and restaurants were practically begging for workers.

I joined a couple of Facebook groups that discuss Outer Banks issues, and this one came up often, along with links to articles from local newspapers. There is literally NO long-term housing available for workers on the OBX. Many homeowners have converted their properties to VRBO or AirBnB places, with short-term vacation rentals.

I live in the mountains of NC and we have the same problems around here. Most fast-food places and restaurants have signs out that they're hiring, and a lot of restaurants still haven't opened back up completely. The housing market around here is ridiculous. Even my tiny 800-square-foot house has increased in value to almost $200,000, which is ridiculous to me. I've known people who have sold their houses and now can't find anywhere to live (to buy OR to rent).

In order to work here, people might have to live 30 or 40 miles away. That's a hard sell for a fast food job! Same things at the Outer Banks - people are living on the mainland and commuting up to an hour to get to work. I'm sure the same is true in Ouray.

[MineralMan]

8. A number of large resorts in places like Branson, MO

have employee housing on-site, and at very reasonable rates. In some places, there is zero available housing anywhere nearby, so they build the equivalent of a Motel 6 or Red Roof Inn on the grounds of the resort and put peak season employees in those.

[RegularJam]

10. I've been trying to figure out what I'm seeing.

So much of it doesn’t make sense to me.

My area has come out of hibernation. Everything is packed. People are spending serious money. Unemployment is very low. Rents have skyrocketed(annual rentals) and are renting in a day.

Yet restaurants are understaffed.

My main theory is simple. Covid was too much for people in that industry who didn’t have well off family to fall back on. Stimulus payments weren’t enough. They were forced to find other employment and like the change.

I don’t have anything to back that up.

The argument in the article would prove doubly true in my area. Gulf coast. It would also explain the dramatic increase in rental price. And maybe they are renting so fast because the servers are making better money.

I also wonder how many of them decided to go back to school and are topping out on loans.