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HomeNewsAffordable housing, effective public transit keys to ending employee shortage

Affordable housing, effective public transit keys to ending employee shortage

Despite a huge number of help-wanted signs throughout the Muskoka region, the seasonal nature of a lot of the work and the jobs in the service industry make a lot of the opportunities less than ideal for residents of Huntsville and area.

Economic Development Officer for the Town of Huntsville, Scott Ovell, says added to that are the difficulties faced by workers when it comes to getting to work via the limited transit system in the town and also affordable housing. These combine for a perfect storm of having potential workers, but they can’t afford to live in the town they work or can’t get to the job.

Ovell says they are working on solutions with key employers but every employer needs to provide a living wage, something that is tough in a seasonal economy:

How to get affordable housing built and provided is a tough proposition as the need is now but the solution is a long way off, requiring multiple levels of government to agree on solutions and provide meaningful funding that will get shovels in the ground and apartments built:

According to Ovell, these issues are a top priority at the Town of Huntsville and also at the District of Muskoka level.

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