The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SBDNL) welcomed more than 1.7 million visitors in 2020, establishing a new high-water mark for tourism in the dunes area of Leelanau and Benzie counties. Increasingly, owners of restaurants, hotels, shops and other service-industry businesses in the Lakeshore’s “gateway” communities say they are unable to hire enough staff to serve both tourists and the local population. Their common refrain: Lack of affordable seasonal housing.

A 2020 study funded by the Sleeping Bear Gateways Council (SBGC), found that nearly half of employers in the area had open positions that they were unable to fill during their busiest times, because of a lack of seasonal housing. Over 60 employers in Benzie and Leelanau counties participated in the survey.

Now, the nonprofit SBGC is launching a project to help meet an ever-daunting challenge of finding housing for seasonal workers.

First up: it underwrote the creation of a housing exchange to provide a digital clearinghouse to match landlords with participating employers sponsoring employees looking for seasonal housing.  

Bill Witler, SBGC’s seasonal workforce housing committee chair, explains that the housing exchange builds upon a grassroots project initiated by the SBDNL in 2020, when seasonal worker housing inside the park was limited by COVID-19 restrictions. National Park Service administrators reached out to individuals in the adjacent communities and were able to find the needed accommodations.

SBGC will use a similar strategy to recruit employers and those with spaces to rent into the exchange. The list of available units will be provided to participating employers, who can then offer it as a reference for workers they intend to hire.

The housing exchange is just the first step of a proposed grant-supported project to foster real solutions to the seasonal employee housing shortage. Ideally, the SBGC would hire a contract project manager to launch a two-year work plan. This would include promoting and managing the housing exchange, plus engaging chambers of commerce, regional housing agencies, transit authorities, employers, housing providers and others to facilitate delivery of short-term workforce fixes and plan for long-term solutions in each of the affected communities.

Right now, the SBGC is working through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Authority on a two-year grant proposal to fund the project.

Witler tells the Leelanau Ticker the total funding goal is $121,000, comprised of $11k SBGC seed money; a $10k commitment from Rotary Charities; and $10k from the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation. “We have $31k and are now applying for $90k from the USDA.”

The deadline to apply for the Rural Economic Development opportunity is March 31.

As the date for securing the USDA grant looms large, Witler is seeking the help of local businesses via letters of support. “We have letters in hand from Dinghy’s, the Cabbage Shed and Iron Fish Distillery. We are still seeking more.” (Benzie and Leelanau employers may send letters to Bill Witler at PO Box 95, Glen Arbor, MI, 49636 or call (314) 941-6389.)

He adds, “The scope of phase two of our project is greatly dependent on our ability to achieve funding. Assuming funding success, we look forward to [residents and businesses’] participation in helping design feasible housing solutions, starting in each gateway community.”

SBGC formed in 2018 as a successor to the former Citizens Council of the Sleeping Bear Dunes Area. The organization initiates projects to evaluate the impact of visitor growth, while working to “facilitate stakeholder collaboration to enhance sustainable gateway communities.” Other park partners — the Friends of the Sleeping Bear Dunes, Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear —work primarily on projects within the park, while the Gateways Council’s efforts are concentrated in the surrounding communities.

Photo by Parker McCullough