DENNIS – Small business owners met with Attorney General Maura Healy on Monday to share a number of concerns about housing costs and labor shortages as they head into the busy summer season.
Healy met with business and civic leaders at 3 p.m. at Dennis Mercantile, a small breakfast, lunch and coffee shop. People gathered around a rectangular table. With coffee and cold drinks in front of them, they took turns sharing their worries about work, housing and childcare just weeks after July 4th.
Healy made three stops during a tour of Cape Cod on Monday. Except for Dennis’ stop, she toured the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay and held a roundtable discussion with members of the disability community after a tour of Cape Abilities Farm.
Dennis Town Administrator Elizabeth Sullivan and elected board member and small business owner Christopher Lambton, Dennis Mercantile owner Megan Lambton, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Nidzwiecki, Amplify POC founder and CEO Tara Vargas Wallace Amplify POC board Jean Morrison shared concerns about everything from labor shortages to the housing crisis, discrimination and opioid use, and the need for more mental health services and public transportation.
U.S. Sen. Julian Sir, D-Truro, and U.S. Representative Bill Keating, D-MA, also joined the Dennis Mercantile.
Summer aid in short supply
Christopher Lambton said he found it “impossible” to find enough staff for his landscaping business. He lags behind the schedule with his business, but so does the city. While there are lifeguards for the city’s beaches, other city departments will soon find help in the summer.
His daughter-in-law, Megan Lambton, repeated his remarks. She said it has never been as difficult for her to find staff for her popular restaurant as it was this summer.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen,” she said.
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Businesses do not get as many students applying for a job unless those students have parents or a family living in the Cape. Housing prices are high and there are not enough seasonal rents to tour.
People have turned their properties into short-term, not year-round rents. Wealthy people are moving to the Cape, buying second homes and investment properties.
COVID-19 has hampered the work of gardeners, grocery store employees and restaurateurs. With so few Cape homes, more people are turning to life in their cars and even surfing the couch with their children, Morrison said, adding that there are more elderly people living in their cars. Morrison said she has seen dramatic changes since retiring in 2013.
“It’s about being unbearable,” said Vargas Wallace, who said he had to find another place to live by the end of the month. “Most of us who work here can’t afford ‘affordable’ housing.”
Healy said two things were important: telling their stories and telling staff where the government could help.
Cape zero for tourism
The country has enormous wealth, knowledge and capital, but no shared prosperity, she said.
Healy called tourism a huge economic engine for the country, but said the Cape was zero.
“We need to understand that,” she said.
Healy has been attorney general since 2015. In January, she announced her candidacy for governor.
Contact Denise Coffey at [email protected] Follow her on Twitter: @DeniseCoffeyCCT.