The town is seeking property owners who own year-round homes or cottages who would be willing to rent their property out to seasonal or year-round island workers.
“This is an effort to help try to connect employees with suitable housing,” housing director Tucker Holland said. “The town obviously has challenges in hiring and finding folks housing on the island. We are putting out this RFP (request for proposal) to see if there are folks with year-round opportunities with regard to the home owner wanting to rent to a town employee in either of those cases.”
An RFP is a business document that announces a project, describes what the project is, and proceeds to solicit bids from individuals who qualify to complete the objective. The RFP was published on Monday and qualified bidders have until February 17, 2022 to submit a bid and connect with the town.
“I think there is sort of a movement if you will, like a consciousness of the challenges that the town and many other non-profits and businesses here face in housing employees,” Holland said. “There are folks that are saying ‘hey I have this cottage or I have this home and I would like to see it go towards this community purpose’ and there is just a greater awareness and greater consciousness about that sort of approach. So we are trying to reach those people.”
The town has several open management-level positions, Holland said, and one of the biggest challenges the town has faced during the recruiting and hiring process in filling these roles is the lack of housing they are able to offer.
“One of the biggest factors and challenges in hiring is that folks are interested in the position, but then as they start to think about potentially accepting it, housing comes into play,” Holland said. “Folks that are coming from off island are understandably saying ‘gosh I can’t accept this position without knowing that I have suitable, stable housing.’ This is an opportunity to show your community support if you are in a position to do so by renting your home or cottage to town employees who obviously keep the town running here.”
The town is seeking properties with a minimum of two bedrooms. For more information on the town’s latest initiative to combat the island-wide housing shortage, click here.
