Cape Cod Seasonal Workers: No Housing, No Job

We have been coming to Cape Cod for decades for summer vacation. After a lull in travel during COVID, the Cape Cod tourist industry is almost back to pre-pandemic levels. Traffic at a crawl, crowded restaurants and booked up accomodations attest to this fact.   Even though the tourists are back,  there is still a severe labor shortage in Cape Cod, as elsewhere in the U.S.  Cape Cod businesses have relied on seasonal foreign student workers who come on a J-1 visas that require participants to find a place to stay before they arrive. Many are finding affordable housing to be non-existent.       There isn’t enough housing available, and the options that do exist aren’t affordable — according to Sen. Julian Cyr, who represents the region. “What the pandemic did is it put that problem on steroids,” Cyr said. As home prices have climbed and apartments have been converted to short-term rentals, suitable lodging has become harder to find.   Much of the housing on the Cape is people’s second and third homes, which became even more attractive for owners to occupy year-round during the pandemic. Additionally, a number of homes that, in the past, would have been rented out for seasonal workers have been converted to short-term rentals, according to Cyr. It is much more profitable to rent out houses by the day or week than for a month or whole season.   Businesses have had to innovate to find solutions to their labor shortages. Some hotels have turned to automating tasks and have guests check in at kiosks or on their phones.       Before the pandemic, if you wanted to order take-out at Mac’s Seafood, that has multiple locations on the Cape, you had to call them up. Then, during the pandemic, Mac’s Seafood adopted online ordering. Mac Hay, the owner estimates it’s saved five to seven minutes of staff time on each order, and it’s one of a number of measures they’ve taken to maximize staff time. (marketplace.org)     Chatham Bars Inn leases several buildings, including a motel, to provide beds for workers. That helps when it comes to hiring, said Danyel Matterson, Director of Human Resources for the beach resort.       This year, the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce received $155,000 from the state to hire housing coordinator Christina Arabadzhieva to help solve the problem. In her first four months, the chamber has been able to place 90 J-1 visa students and identified about 50 new hosts. (Cape Cod Times).   Perhaps businesses facing labor shortages in other places around the U.S. can help themselves and help solve the housing crisis at the same time.