Housing is a ‘serious issue’ for Bradenton workers. Business group tries new solution
The highest inflation in decades and more jobs than workers are huge problems facing businesses.
But the need for affordable housing for the Bradenton area workforce has taken on growing urgency as the price of room and board has gotten out of hand for those who staff local businesses.
For several years, the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corporation has been quietly working behind the scenes with local businesses on a concept that could produce a solution, including wrap-around services that workers need.
Sharon Hillstrom, president and CEO of the Bradenton Area EDC, said developing a workforce housing community could be a joint effort of a number of businesses and organizations.
It was unclear whether there might ultimately be a single workforce housing community, where it might be located, and whether there might be several housing communities.
Hillstrom announced news of the study during Friday afternoon’s EDC annual update luncheon at the Bradenton Area Convention Center in Palmetto.
“We have met with 12 companies who have expressed an interest in building workforce housing for their employees. It needs to be a private-public partnership. We are getting the data from the surveys. There is more to come,” she said.
“Solving workforce housing is top of mind with every business,” Hillstrom said.
Friday’s update featured three panelists who talked about their challenges in the current business climate. Those panelists included Chris Tomasso, CEO and president of First Watch Restaurants, Paige LeMay, president and CEO of Coastal Orthopedics, and Hannah Herrig Ketelboeter, president of TerraNova Equestrian.
First Watch has been able to grow to more than 400 restaurants in 29 states from its Bradenton base through its focus on the importance of its staff and making customer satisfaction a top priority.
“If we take care of customers, everything else will work out,” Tomasso said.
But he noted that commodity costs “are off the charts” and housing affordability has been a big problem.
“It’s a big challenge for us. We have a serious issue here,” he said.
LeMay said housing has also been a difficult problem for the staff at Coastal Orthopedics, one that having a positive culture and appreciation for staff alone cannot solve.
LeMay also talked about what has been called the “great resignation,” a trend that developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people either left or lost their jobs and have since resisted returning to an office environment.
Coastal Orthopedics has emphasized positive workplace culture and an appreciation for workers, what she called the “great re-engagement.”
Part of that re-engagement is being honest with people, and paying them when they were out of work for 3 1/2 days during Hurricane Ian, LeMay said.
In other business on Friday:
▪ Michael Sanders, founder and CEO of Michael Saunders & Company, received the Rick Fawley Economic Development Award of Distinction for her business and community leadership.
▪ David Sessions, chair of Willis Smith Construction, passed the gavel as EDC board chair to Benjamin Hanan, chair of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick LLP.
▪ Hillstrom announced that the EDC will be moving into the 26 West Center on the State College of Florida Bradenton campus in the Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation (Building 8) in January. The 26 West Center was created to make entrepreneurship and careers in technology accessible to everyone. The EDC now works out of offices at Lakewood Ranch.
This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 5:50 AM.
