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Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

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Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#51

Post by B2B_human »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #10

Is it possible a reason behind the lack of people is also that a ton of our essential workers (aka service people) have died during the pandemic? Seriously, line cooks was one of the most fatal job positions during this time…

I live in Truckee, it's a town of 16,000 people. We'd see deaths on facebook, etc. but that deaths weren't nearly high enough to cause a problem with finding any sort of staff. The prblem, as the article states - there IS NO HOUSING.

In Truckee - this is the problem: Sure, you can live in Reno 40 minutes away and make $15-20 an hour there(but rents are rising - I know someone paying $3200 for a place now), but then why would you commute to a small town 45 minutes away for the same $17 if you can't live there and enjoy the mountains?

Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#52

Post by mathattack »

This seems like markets adjusting to inflation. It’s a combination of real estate NIMBYism and COVID. If the cost of real estate goes up, you have to pay people more or they move. And to pay people more you may have to charge more for the goods and services.

Rent control and government owned housing tend to work less than increasing the housing stock. (Affordable housing problems only help a small fraction of people and raises the cost for everyone else slowing down new building)

Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#53

Post by dragonwriter »

hattmall wrote: post #18

It's not going to change until the UI benefits and eviction moratoriums end. What person is going to go and work all day for less money?? Seriously, if you don't work right now you are getting UI, Food Stamps, and you don't have to pay rent. It literally doesn't not make economic sense to work right now for many people.

> It's not going to change until the UI benefits and eviction moratoriums end. What person is going to go and work all day for less money??

Or, employers could just offer more money.

> Seriously, if you don't work right now you are getting UI, Food Stamps, and you don't have to pay rent.

Note that there is not a rent moratorium, just an eviction moratorium, so unless you plan is to both get evicted and deal with the unpaid debt (perhaps through bankruptcy, which has downstream adverse impacts) when the moratorium ends, and not move.(since there is likewise not a moratorium on adverse credit reporting, or potential landlords making credit checks) there are very good reasons to pay rent.

Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#54

Post by sandworm101 »

>> "Wilderotter starts his employees at $20 an hour."

That's the entire problem. Everything is tied to pay. The reality is that nobody can get good labor, let alone good skilled labor, at 20$/hour. If your business model can only work by paying minimal wages then your businese model has failed. Labor costs, wage expectations, have gone up. That is a good thing for employees. I have little sympathy for anyone who thinks they should be brought back down.

Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#55

Post by JumpCrisscross »

SilasX wrote: post #50
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> tying any essential good to employment is not reasonable If you buy a workforce house, there is obviously no obligation to maintain employment. I’m not sure how it works for rentals. The alternatives are flying people into company-owned housing, the way they did in Fargo during the oil boom. That seems far less savoury.

So people can get a sham job to get cheap housing?

> people can get a sham job to get cheap housing?

Yes. And then be charged with fraud.

Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#56

Post by B2B_human »

HenryKissinger wrote: post #40

Landlords and property owners need to start leaving money on the table when renting out and selling real estate.

Well....the article does mention that business owners are becoming property owners and landlords so they can make more money in their business... seems like your wish is coming true.

Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#57

Post by SilasX »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #55
SilasX wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So people can get a sham job to get cheap housing?

> people can get a sham job to get cheap housing? Yes. And then be charged with fraud.

I meant sham job in the sense of "legit job offer you don't plan to keep for a while just to qualify", not "false documents for non-existent job".

Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#58

Post by sandworm101 »

tempodox wrote: post #46
EMM_386 wrote: post #3

This is becoming a problem in many areas, and I can't imagine that the push for remote work is going to help the situation any. Unless you are living with parents, or with multiple roommates, the housing market in these cities will price you out. We have this same scenario taking place in the area I live, and NIMBY/zoning laws prevent affordable housing from being developed. I've been to town hall meetings where peop…

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” — Science Fiction.

Or the one.

Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#59

Post by B2B_human »

EMM_386 wrote: post #3

This is becoming a problem in many areas, and I can't imagine that the push for remote work is going to help the situation any. Unless you are living with parents, or with multiple roommates, the housing market in these cities will price you out. We have this same scenario taking place in the area I live, and NIMBY/zoning laws prevent affordable housing from being developed. I've been to town hall meetings where peop…

You sound like a big city person (i used to be one - 5 years ago before moving here). I live in Truckee. town of 16,000 people.

> If the local residents are wealthy enough to live in the area, perhaps businesses have to bite the bullet, raise prices locally, and pay more for essential services like bartenders, wait staff, retail, etc

I love your definition of "essential services" are bartenders and wait staff. You sound like a real great person to be planning for critical events, such as wildfires which occur in our area.

Also "If the local residents are wealthy enough to live in the area" - lol, do you realize in our Town of 16,000 people, there are more than 50% of our houses that are NOT locals. On a busy weekend we expand to about 55,000 people. The problem is not the full time locals, but the temporary residents who exacerbate this problem. Their houses remain off the market for local residents to rent because they want to (rightfully so) njoy their second home for a few weeks a year - which precludes a long-term leaser. It doesn't matter how much wages rise, locally - there are CFO's of local businesses who have had to move because they cannot find housing.

Yes, we live in a national forest, so simply building more housing is slowed down by natural beauty and environmental assessments, and the usual NIMBYism too. But the town is quite aligned behind trying to solve this problem somehow.

Re: Tahoe's hiring crisis is unraveling small businesses during its busiest season

#60

Post by sandworm101 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #13
EMM_386 wrote: post #3

This is becoming a problem in many areas, and I can't imagine that the push for remote work is going to help the situation any. Unless you are living with parents, or with multiple roommates, the housing market in these cities will price you out. We have this same scenario taking place in the area I live, and NIMBY/zoning laws prevent affordable housing from being developed. I've been to town hall meetings where peop…

> NIMBY/zoning laws prevent affordable housing from being developed Jackson Hole reserves some housing for those who work full time for an employer in Teton County [1]. This strikes me as a reasonable balance between wanting to control housing stock and maintaining access to cheap labour. [1] https://www.tetoncountywy.gov/720/Workforce-Homes

I sold my soul to the company store.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_scrip

There was good reason to do away with such concepts.

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