The Prescott Workforce Housing Committee was established in 2022 to address concerns about the availability and accessibility of housing for service employees in the community, such as police, firefighters, nurses, teachers, and other professions that are critical to a community's functioning. The committee is comprised of local stakeholders and industry experts and is working on short- and long-term goals to address availability and accessibility of workforce housing in Prescott. To better engage the community and share important messages related to the Committee's work, a communication and community outreach plan has been established

• Looking at the Census website, our median age is 60.5 where the median age in Arizona is 39.3.
• Our average median household income is $66,330 which, over a typical 30-year fixed mortgage at an interest rate of 4% that translates to a house price of approximately $400,000 with monthly payments around $1,910 not including property taxes or insurance.
• In Prescott, per the PAAR website, our median sold price in Prescott so far has been $575,000.
• Per the Census, our employment rate is 38.9% where the Arizona rate is 57.8%
• In a workforce housing survey we did, 80% of participants stated they are either struggling or have struggled to find housing in the area and 64% of participants said they have considered leaving the area due to housing.

Sources

U.S. Department of Commerce. (n.d.). Prescott city, Arizona. Explore census data. https://data.census.gov/profile/Prescott_city,_Arizona?g=160XX00US0457380

Home. Prescott Area Association of REALTORS®. (2024, March 26). https://www.paar.org/

"Talent acquisition and employee retention have been at the forefront of Human Resources departments across the country since the “The Great Resignation” labor movement following the pandemic. Low unemployment, stagnant wages, high labor, increased competition, burnout, retirements, increased job availability and employee satisfaction all contributed to one of the most complex talent markets in the history of workforce statistics. Competing with private industries during this labor shortage has been a difficult task for local governments, including the City of Prescott.

What further complicates our ability to recruit and retain talent is the limited labor pool and high cost of housing in our region. Only 40% of Prescott’s population are in the workforce, making competition even stronger. Throw in average home prices of $500,000 to $600,000 and now we have an even more challenging task of staffing our organization.

The lack of affordable housing has had a direct impact on the City’s ability to recruit and retain employees at all levels of the organization. Candidates from outside of the area have difficulty finding a home they can afford. At one point at the apex of “The Great Resignation”, the City had 30% of our job offers rejected due the inability of these selected candidates to find a home they could afford.

Nearly 80% of the employees in our organization are front-line customer service based public servants. This includes firefighters, police officers, utility workers, equipment operators, library staff, public safety dispatchers, IT technicians, maintenance workers, administrative professionals and more. Without addressing the workforce housing issue, our ability to recruit and retain these quality service providers will continue to erode."