As a representative of one of the largest employers in Southwest Florida, Vice President of Operations David Bumpous attended the Collier County Board of County Commissioners meeting held on Tuesday, March 28 to advocate for the future of affordable housing.
The agenda included a vote on proposed amendments to the Collier County Growth Management Plan to address several affordable housing initiatives that had been tabled in previous meetings.
Arthrex has been involved with the county regarding workforce housing and transportation issues for years, sending representatives like David to keep informed on the county’s plans and also to share Arthrex’s concerns.
“It’s vitally important that we continue looking at densities, height restrictions and flexible use,” David said. “I’ve lived here over 20 years, and I love and respect what we’ve built here, but we have to continue to look forward because things are changing. We need to continue applying as many creative solutions as possible, like providing incentives to developers and looking at impact fees.”
“I know Arthrex is doing a lot for their employees,” Commissioner Rick LoCastro told David. “What is the latest Arthrex is doing for their employee base?”
“We have houses, apartments and condos throughout the county that we are able to offer as transitional housing,” David said. “It used to be that three months were enough for people to get a feel for the area and save some money before they were ready to lease or buy, but that has transitioned into six months, sometimes a year.”
Arthrex’s Corporate Housing department has been helping new hires transition to the Naples area for more than 10 years.
“Human Resources determines the need for transitional housing for new hires on a case-by-case basis,” said Corporate Housing Specialist Beth Merchant.
It does happen, though, that people turn down job offers from Arthrex, citing the cost of housing as the reason.
“We can’t control the market price of homes,” Senior Director of HR and Organizational Development Mike Boose said, “but Arthrex has taken a comprehensive employee-support-and-engagement approach to the things that can be controlled.”
Strategic planning, for example, went into selecting the locations of Arthrex Manufacturing Inc. East (AMIE) and Arthrex Logistics Center (ALC), ensuring those buildings were in areas where housing would be more affordable than in coastal Collier County. Free lunches, onsite medical clinics, wellness centers and the coming childcare facilities offer not only cost savings to employees, but also convenience, reducing time spent on often crowded streets.
In addition to the company’s involvement in affordable housing at the county level and efforts to reduce financial burdens for employees where it can, Arthrex has been a long-time supporter of Habitat for Humanity, which also had representatives at the meeting on Tuesday.
“I see progress being made,” David told the Commissioners, “but I want to encourage you to continue to promote and support these ideas and keep them as a top priority.”
The Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to transmit the amendments, with some altered wording, to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
These discussions at the county level happened just one day before Florida’s Live Local Act, a bi-partisan bill allocating funds and tax incentives for use in affordable housing projects, was signed into law.