Schweitzer announces employee housing

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SANDPOINT — The first workers who will be calling Schweitzer's new employee housing facility home could be moving in within the next few weeks.

Schweitzer purchased the former Huckleberry Retirement Center, an assisted living facility, this past summer. Since then, crews embarked on significant renovations, enabling the property to be used as housing for winter and summer seasonal staff.

“This is a great first step in providing a housing option for some of our employees,” said Schweitzer CEO and President Tom Chasse. “In an incredibly challenging real estate market, we were glad we could acquire this property and help ease some of the burden facing our employees.”

Now known as Hemlock House, the building is comprised of eight bedrooms, each with their own half-bath, a communal kitchen, large living room, a rec room, four shower rooms and laundry facilities.

“We believe this house, with its in-town location, will play a crucial role in helping our employees remain a vibrant part of the Sandpoint community,” Chasse said.

Interested employees will go through an application process and those who are granted residency in this facility will be interviewed and screened by Schweitzer’s Human Resources team. The residents will sign agreements to abide by house rules and will be expected to remain in good standing with their housemates, employer and neighbors, resort officials said. In addition, Schweitzer will have an on-site contact to help with maintenance tasks and troubleshooting.

The need for workforce housing has been "a glaring need" for some time, Schweitzer marketing director Dig Chrismer. Numerous employees, from management to front-line workers have either been priced out of rentals, been unable to find something affordable or had the home they were renting sold by their landlord.

"There was a collective sigh of relief from our crews, relief that Schweitzer was actually doing something to help," Chrismer said.

Working as a team, Schweitzer had been exploring any number of ideas and plans, trying to get as creative as possible to come up with options, Chrismer said. It was at that point that someone on the team came across the listing for the facility and the idea to create dorm-style housing for interested employees was born, she said.

The eight rooms are double occupancy, giving 16 employees an affordable option for housing. While the process is still being worked out, it's likely it will involve a cost-per-paycheck option that offers reasonable rent.

"The goal isn't to make money off rent," Chrismer said. "Our goal is to provide housing for our employees."

While not for every employee, Chrismer said the dorm-style housing is part of a longer-term strategy to provide affordable housing for the resort's employees. However, due to the nature of the projects, Chrismer said it would be premature to detail what the projects entail.

An open house held Monday attracted a lot of attention and curiosity from neighbors, who were assured by resort officials that Schweitzer — and the employees who live there — intend to be good neighbors.

"We love that our Schweitzer employees will be living in town and being part of the community," added Chrismer.

'It's a drop in the bucket, but it's a start," Chrismer said.