Businesses of every stripe seem to be having difficulty keeping employees, and part of the reason is the lack of affordable housing that’s not many kilometres and many traffic jams from work. The result, as raised in the current issue of Business In Vancouver, is an “outward migration of the labour force” from…pick an area.
While “Vancouver” would be the most dramatic example of this, it could also apply to offices on the North Shore with employees from Surrey, or retail outlets in Burnaby staffed by people living in Maple Ridge. It’s more than a downtown issue.
The article points to the importance of involving governments and businesses getting together about policies for workers who, if they’re able to live in the neighbourhood, where they work will be contributing to the local economy through their daily, life expenditures.
One possibility — tax incentives. They could be for the employer, the employee, or both. Another suggestion is for creative thinking that would make possible for employers to provide affordable housing as a way of attracting and retaining employees. A more specific one is, for example, to make it possible for care workers to live in laneway homes where they can service the aging population in that neighbourhood.
A think tank of both government and business could spawn lots of ideas that could be win-win propositions for everyone concerned.
You can find the Business In Vancouver article here.