I was in a meeting yesterday with two owners of local businesses here in Woodstock. My goal was to sell one (or both) of them a new office building. As I was assessing their needs, one of the owners said he …”couldn’t find enough local employees”… to match the growth of his company. Further into the conversation he stated he…”had to bend over backwards to keep the good ones”… he has working for him now. The other business owner pointed out that there are a lot of Help Wanted signs all over town. This should not happen to local business owners.
Why is it a problem today? Because a few local politicians have prohibited higher density housing in favor of $350,000+, ½ acre lot subdivisions that most employees can’t afford. It takes management or executive incomes to move into many of the newer housing developments. Why can’t we build affordable housing to attract workers for our local businesses? (This will also help our terrible traffic congestion by allowing residents to live and work locally.)
Research conducted by the Urban Land Institute proves that higher-density housing actually improves a suburban area in many more ways than lower-density housing. The U.S. population is expected to increase 33% by 2030 to 376 million. That’s 94 million more people than there were in 2000. About half of the homes, office buildings, stores and factories needed by 2030 don’t exist today. Where are we going to put these houses…in the next pasture or forest to erode our green space, or in-fill the cities with higher-density?
Higher-density, lower-cost housing will provide the local business owners with more employees and higher retention rates. How can we grow as a community if our small business owners are struggling to hire employees to meet demand?
The future is our choice and it can be a great one if we understand three things: First, we have tremendous opportunity ahead of us. Second, we don’t need to be afraid of, or oppose, higher-density development. Done well, it can provide great economic and environmental benefits. Third, if we want this new vision of an even better community to happen, we have to work together.
