It’s becoming increasingly difficult for local government
entities to recruit and retain qualified professionals.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult for local government entities to recruit and retain qualified professionals.
Teachers, engineers, law enforcement officers and others who help keep the wheels of civic life turning here are apparently choosing to take their expertise elsewhere.
There are a number of factors contributing to this problem, but it in many cases it seems to boil down to one thing: a big disconnect between pay and the cost of living here. These needed professionals can earn as much, or nearly so, in other places where they don’t have to deal with Hollister’s sky-high housing prices.
In January, the median price for a single-family home here was $589,000. Now, we all know that Hollister is a great place, with small-town livability and easy access to big-city attractions. But consider two somewhat similar communities, Corvallis, Ore., and Flagstaff, Ariz., which a professional interested in living and working in Hollister might also find appealing. The median home price in Corvallis is $189,000 and in Flagstaff it’s $282,000.
Consider also a public school teacher as representative of the professionals our community needs. A starting teacher in the Hollister School District earns $42,500 a year. In Corvallis, that same teacher would earn $31,700, while he or she would earn $33,000 in Flagstaff. Even though the pay is a more here, you don’t need a teaching credential in math to crunch all those numbers and come to the conclusion that Hollister is going to be a lot less affordable.
The government entities dealing with this problem aren’t going to solve it on their own. But, with help and a willingness on the part of the community to embrace some creative thinking, perhaps we can make this a place where more professionals will decide they can afford to make a home.
We’re encouraged by things like approval this week of a plan to build a cluster of single-family homes and townhouses in Gilroy where developer Christopher Cote has pledged price discounts of up to $60,000 for “community caregivers” such as firefighters and sheriff’s deputies. A public-private redevelopment partnership in Seattle recently transformed a former inner-city school into condominiums where teachers and artists were able to buy in at below-market prices. Some local government entities in California are developing programs that would offer bonuses that could be used for down payments on homes by teachers and other public employees who prove up on pledges to stay on the job and in the community for at least five years.
The Board of Supervisors is currently in the process of rethinking San Benito County’s affordable housing program. We hope that the city and the school districts will join in reformulating a plan that will build creative partnerships and offer real incentives for private developers to make homes more affordable for the professionals our community most needs to attract and retain.
