About a mile away from Short’s Brewing Company in the village of Bellaire is a classic northern Michigan motel, but you’re probably not going to find any tourists here.
"This is the community kitchen area. A pretty large kitchen," said Gerard Knoph while giving a tour of the Bellaire Inn. "I’ve already cooked in here a couple times with some housemates, which was cool."
The motel is Knoph's home for the summer. He’s only working at Short’s until the end of tourist season. And some of his housemates are from around the globe as part of an international visa program Short's enrolled in to hire more seasonal staff.
"You’ve got people from Kazakhstan. And I think we’ve got people from Turkey coming. Three people from Jamaica," said Knoph.
In the year 2000, the Small Business Association of Michigan estimates there were over 700,000 more people participating in Michigan’s workforce when compared to today.
But for those who want to work in northwest Michigan, their employers often need get creative, like purchasing motels for workers.
"We had people camping, it was just a hodgepodge of how people were surviving," said Short's Brewing Company CEO Scott Newman-Bale. "And it was clear that that situation was getting worse."
Once Short's purchased the Bellaire Inn, they didn’t waste any time putting it to use for workers. The news of Short’s purchasing the Bellaire Inn traveled across the region like wildfire.
"We literally had people moving in hours after we closed," said Newman-Bale.
"We could fill that place three, four times over, I think, with the amount of demand we had, and when we had large companies in the region reaching out saying, hey, how many rooms can we get? We’ll take them all," said Newman-Bale.
Over 75% of Short's business comes during the summer and the struggles of meeting customer demand can be linked to housing.
"In the summer, we have days where we make 800 pizzas a day. There's about 1,000 people that live in Bellaire year round," said Christa Brenner, marketing and brand director for Short’s Brewing Company.
"Our kitchen is going as fast as they can," said Brenner. "[But] we are keeping a bunch of people waiting at a table forever for a pizza isn't great either."
Brenner says one employee stopped working at Short’s because of housing and told her they had better luck finding a place they could afford in a major urban city.
"But that's just the nature of this tourist driven economy that we live in. And it was definitely compounded by the pandemic," said Brenner.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, leisure and hospitality is the number one industry that has struggled to restore their workforce to pre-pandemic levels. But that data also suggests Antrim county is moving in a positive direction.
Further to the west, in Leelanau county, is the headquarters of another business that's invested in property for seasonal workers.
"This is our cathedral of the cherries. Cherries are the greatest of all fruit," said Bob Sutherland, CEO and founder of Cherry Republic while giving a tour of his Glen Arbor retail store. "We need to put it in the most beautiful setting as possible."
Leelanau county is considered Michigan’s most expensive housing market. In 2018 the average home price was over $200,000, according to 24/7 Wall Street. Now, that number is cited at over $500,000 by several national realtor agencies.
Sutherland said he needs 150 seasonal employees and has hired green card agriculture workers and employed retired couples who live in recreational vehicles full-time. Cherry Republic pays for their camping spot.
"So we pay that initial $3,000 for them to come," said Sutherland.
"We're really counting on those out help from a husband and a wife to work for us as many hours as they're willing."
The Sleeping Bear Gateways Council is an organization trying to find solutions in the region. They’ve created a housing exchange, which pairs local homeowners to seasonal workers.
Elise Crafts, the Council’s lead on housing, said she thought people would be more interested in helping local businesses try and solve the housing issue. But the exchange has produced mixed results.
"Most folks participating in our program, are just really excited about the additional income, that they can make renting a space in their home or renting their home. So interestingly, we haven't received any bites in Leelanau county," said Crafts.
The council is also bringing local leaders together to figure out a plan to repurpose a vacant school building in the region for housing.
Bill Witler, one of Council's board members, told WCMU that solutions can’t rely on just the state or federal government.
"But it takes the local initiative, it still is a home rule state, much of what we do is based in our communities. It still is going to take local businesses coming together with local governmental units to collaborate," said Witler.
