Long Island CEOs Cite High Housing Costs as Major Barrier to Hiring Workers

Long Island businesses are struggling to attract and retain employees due to the region’s soaring cost of living, with housing prices forcing companies to lose workers to more affordable areas, according to a new economic survey.

Anne Shybunko-Moore, CEO of GSE Dynamics Inc., a defense contractor based in Hauppauge, experienced this challenge firsthand when she hired five out-of-state workers a few years ago. “They all left” soon after arriving, Shybunko-Moore told the Press, because they could not afford to live on Long Island due to high housing costs.

“It’s hard to be transplanted and not get sticker-shock,” said Shybunko-Moore, who owns GSE. “When someone comes from another state, they have a mathematical comparison” to other areas where costs, particularly housing, are lower.

The housing market has reached unprecedented levels, according to real estate experts and recent reports. The average home price on Long Island hovers around the mid-$700,000 range, while Nassau County’s median price hit $875,000.

These findings align with results from the latest Long Island Economic Survey, conducted by Siena Research Institute in Albany for PKF O’Connor Davies accountants. The poll surveyed 311 business executives on Long Island between fall and early winter.

The survey revealed that 78% of respondents said Long Island’s high costs present a very serious or somewhat serious obstacle to attracting or keeping workers. Only 3% said the costs were not a problem.

“Confidence is softening” in the local economy, according to the survey’s key findings. “Expectations for both the Long Island and national economies declined sharply with pessimism about the Long Island economy doubling year over year.” The survey found that 34% of those polled expected conditions to worsen, compared with 16% last year.

Martin Cantor, an economist and director of the Long Island Center for Socio-Economic Policy in Melville, said the declining confidence comes as no surprise. “I was on a panel” more than a decade ago discussing affordable housing, Cantor told the Press, noting that very little progress has been made since then.

While affordable housing exists in areas like Copiague, Islip, Patchogue, and Riverhead, with discussions about additional units on the East End, employers and experts say the supply remains insufficient.

“There are the millennials who want to find a job here and afford to live here well,” Cantor said, adding that this goal is proving difficult to achieve.

The workforce challenges extend beyond housing costs. SiteOne Landscape Supply Inc., a Georgia-based company with eight Long Island locations, faces additional hiring obstacles due to changes in federal immigration policy.

Changes by the Trump administration to the H-2B visa program have reduced the number of skilled foreign workers the company can employ during busy summer months. “We’re forced to rely on a workforce of American citizens,” said Bill Weismiller, a SiteOne account supervisor.

Weismiller explained that hiring has become more difficult because Americans don’t want to work for the same wages as non-citizens. The company currently employs about 50 people, but that number “will double” during spring and summer seasons, he said.

The survey also identified longer commutes as a significant hiring problem, with eight in 10 CEOs citing transportation issues as barriers to employment.

Stacey Sikes, a spokesperson for the Long Island Association, the region’s largest business and civic group, called the survey results a wake-up call. “While our regional economy is stable, the results should be a wake-up call for common sense solutions to issues we have been discussing for many years, including the cost-of-living crisis in Nassau and Suffolk counties,” Sikes said.

U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) plans to meet with business groups to develop a database of job openings and skills training programs to help address the workforce shortage.