Employee housing needs affect hiring, reflect overall housing shortage, business owners say
by Lily Sweeney
“I think that we’ve reached a tipping point in Door County,” said Mike McCarthy, owner of the Village Green Lodge. “I don’t think that there’s ever going to be an issue with people (tourists) coming here, but I do think that their experience isn’t going to be as special as it is today, and today it’s probably not as special as it was yesterday. This is happening.”
McCarthy has owned the Village Green Lodge in Ephraim since August 2015. He offers onsite housing for employees, including international exchange visitors. As with many other business owners, McCarthy said he’s noticed the need for employee housing increasing annually and becoming particularly apparent since the pandemic.
A June 2022 study by Tourism Economics on the economic impacts of tourism in Door County found that annual visitor spending jumped by nearly 40 percent in 2021. The two largest areas of spending were in lodging, accounting for 48.8 percent of all spending, and food and beverage, at 20.8 percent.
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