EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. – A hotel in Eureka Springs, Ark., has taken some unique actions to make sure its employees have affordable housing.
As reported by KAIT, a television station in Jonesboro, Ark., the 1886 Crescent Hotel, one of the tourist town’s largest employers, has purchased a nearby building that was once an assisted living facility and is now an apartment complex, which includes a babysitting facility for children of hotel employees.
According to the article, the idea was the brainchild of the hotel’s general manager and vice president Jack Moyer, who says they want to be able to provide housing to new employees on a “transitional basis.”
“So they can come [and] they can land in the space, [which is] safe, comfortable, affordable, and then ultimately move out of our space and into more permanent housing,” Moyer told the television station.
Moyer notes he is particularly happy to provide childcare services, and is hoping to expand it, as he noted it can be challenging for young parents to get into the workforce.
Sarah Echelle works as a cosmetologist at the hotel’s spa and says the babysitting facility allows her to not worry about who will watch her kids when she is working.
According to the article, full renovations of the building will be completed later this year.
