With more visitors flocking to Delaware beaches, businesses are having to get creative to attract seasonal workers, especially workers here on temporary visas.

The dearth of affordable housing is increasingly forcing business owners to purchase housing for employees.

J-1 visa employees, mostly foreign college students, have been coming to work at the beach for the summer for decades. In the post-COVID landscape, J-1 employees are a vital supplemental workforce.

“The work ethic they bring is infectious,” said Haley Ward, team development manager at La Vida Hospitality.

Ioana Stefana, a 20 year old from Romania, lives in Rehoboth Beach on a J1 Visa

J-1 students have long rented homes near their jobs at the Delaware beach, a necessity since they don’t have vehicles. Now, however, affordable rentals are extremely hard to find, even outside of the downtown areas.

Susan and Rob Wood, owners of The Cultured Pearl in Rehoboth Beach, were forced to use their savings to purchase homes for their J-1 employees to live in.

“We’ve been having trouble with employee housing for 20 years, but now … it just doesn’t exist,” Susan Wood said. “When COVID hit, that’s when it just really got crazy.”

“We’re talking having to close a couple days a week versus being open seven days,” Ward said. “They really help us stay afloat in the summer season when we’re struggling with staffing numbers.”

A growing trend for beach employers

Alex Pires, owner of Highway One Group that runs several nightlife spots in Dewey Beach, purchased several houses and rents to dozens of employees.

Jeff Hamer of Fins Hospitality Group, which runs three popular seafood restaurants in Delaware beach towns, said he’s leasing housing to four of his J-1 employees this year.

Coldwell Banker Premiere’s Kathy Newcomb is also part-owner of Irish Eyes Pub & Restaurant in Lewes. The closest rental their J-1 students could find this year is “far from the restaurant, which is nerve-racking because they will ride bikes or scooter(s) down Coastal Highway to get back and forth to work.”

By: Shannon Marvel McNaught
Delaware News Journal
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2023/06/29/delaware-beach-business-owners-house-j1-visa-workers/70338330007/