As Hollister’s baby boomers prepare to retire in the coming
years, affordable housing will become increasingly important for
attracting new workers to our schools, hospitals and private
businesses.
As Hollister’s baby boomers prepare to retire in the coming years, affordable housing will become increasingly important for attracting new workers to our schools, hospitals and private businesses.
Over the next seven years, Hollister School District and San Benito High School will lose roughly one-third of their teachers to retirement. Local businesses and hospitals will also lose workers. With such a large portion of the workforce retiring, Hollister and San Benito County must find a way to attract young professionals. However, without affordable housing, attracting new workers will be nearly impossible.
As Hollister School District Trustee Dee Brown has pointed out, a young married couple with entry-level teaching positions won’t be able to afford a home in Hollister. Although our school districts are already looking at ways to attract young teachers to the area, finding a solution to Hollister’s housing situation will require effort by the entire community.
The Hollister City Council has already taken an important step by passing increased sewer rates to fund the construction of a $120 million wastewater treatment facility. The project, which is expected to be completed by 2009, will bring an end to the moratorium on new sewer connections imposed by the state in 2002 after 15 million gallons of treated wastewater spilled into the San Benito River. The moratorium has brought growth and economic development in Hollister to a standstill. But long before the moratorium is lifted, our community needs a plan to ensure affordable housing for the next generation of workers.
We trust that in the remaining years before our baby boomers retire, our city and county officials will be applying for state and federal housing grants, planning for smart growth and working diligently to make sure the next generation of teachers, firefighters, nurses, police officers and doctors have a place to live in our community.
This will not be a simple task. Building a slew of housing projects on par with Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green won’t do the trick. New housing projects must be able to coexist with our county’s great agriculture industry and residents’ desire to preserve the region’s character. Planning needs to start now, before it is too late to properly balance these interests.
