Employers see housing affordability a top issue locally, survey says

City officials and private groups need to work together to tackle the most daunting issue facing employers in Longmont - housing affordability.

Hoping someone else will come up with a solution to providing enough homes and apartments for the average wage learner is not helpful, added Stephanie Pitts-Noggle, an economic development specialist with the Longmont Economic Development Partnership.

“We just need all hands on deck to handle this and it’s going to take a variety of approaches,” Pitts-Noggle said Wednesday. She spoke on the heels of a newly released survey of primary employers in Longmont conducted by the EDP, which cites housing woes as a stumbling block to continued economic growth, according to a news release.

The survey found plenty of bright spots in the local economy. Labor force participation is at an all-time high, unemployment is dropping, company earnings are up across all sectors, and the changing economic landscape in the U.S. has opened new markets from which Longmont will be able to attract the kinds of talent needed by its main industries, the news release states.

The respondents to the ELEVATE 2021 survey, which includes both survey responses and executive roundtable feedback from primary employers, pinpointed four main challenge areas:

• Respondents ranked housing affordability and cost of living as the top issues impacting their ability to successfully run a business and attract and retain employees.
• Of respondents, 62% believed that housing affordability was one of the top three disadvantages of doing business in Longmont.
• Nearly 60% also remarked that paying employees a competitive wage is their top retention challenge.
• 26% of participants are willing to invest in regional transportation solutions.
• Survey participants noted that because more than 76% of employees commute from outside of Longmont and that more than half live outside of Boulder County, attracting and retaining employees was difficult. 

Pitts-Noggle said she is heartened that businesses and several groups - including the EDP’s Advance Longmont 2.0 initiative - are taking on the housing affordability issue.  “That’s very, very responsible of our business owners,” Pitts-Noggle said. “They see it as a big problem.”

She is disappointed in the survey response that only 26% of respondents wanted to invest in regional transportation. “I think it’s still seen as a governmental issue and not a private issue,” Pitts-Noggle said. “That’s unfortunate.”

Regional transportation can reduce congestion and traffic times on local roads, she said.

Jessica Erickson, executive director of Longmont EDP, said the survey is important because it provides a pulse of the challenges facing local businesses. “The survey highlighted that despite the myriad difficulties we all faced in 2020 and 2021 as we lived and worked through a historic health crisis, our community has a great deal to be thankful for,” Erickson said in the new release. “This information will allow us to streamline and apply a laser focus on our efforts and growth strategies for 2022.”

Longmont EDP classifies primary employers as those businesses that generate the majority of their revenue from outside the region, bringing new dollars into the community in the form of tax revenue and wages, according to the news release.

About 235 primary employers were surveyed in 2021 and less than 25% responded, Pitts-Noggle said.

For more information about the survey, contact Pitts-Noggle at [email protected]. 303-651-0128. ext. 704.