The conventional first apartment -> nuclear family -> empty nester model doesn’t work for lots of people who have less conventional and more varying housing needs. Temporary workers are important to many leisure, hospitality, and retail trade businesses, especially in Seasonal Communities, Cape and Islands. On Cape Cod the number of private sector jobs in July 2023 was 27,000 more than in February of that year. Many of these seasonal jobs may be filled by workers who live elsewhere for the rest of the year/ They become part of the seasonal population, but their housing needs are very different from visitors and vacationers. They need a place to live for 4 months, not just for a week. The Affordable Homes Act has taken important steps towards acknowledging this issue through the creation of the Seasonal Communities designation and the Seasonal Communities Commission.
Workers who support seasonal economies