It took awhile and cost a lot, but Yachats motels’ new tiny homes and RV park for employees have their first occupants

 

By QUINTON SMITH/YachtsNews

YACHATS — It took some patience, a lot of education and more than a half million dollars, but a long-awaited housing complex for employees of the Fireside Motel and Overleaf Lodge has their first occupants.

There was a lot to learn, admits Drew Roslund, managing general partner of the company that operates the two motels.

“We had to figure a lot of this out for ourselves,” he said.

But now there’s a family participating in the motels’ “work camper” program and living in one of three RV spots built on the east side of the Fireside property.  And, last week the motels’ maintenance man moved into one of three new tiny homes now sitting adjacent to the RV area.

It’s another attempt at a partial solution by one company in an area of Oregon that desperately needs housing for people in the hospitality industry. But even Roslund says it’s not a permanent solution.

“These are intended for short- to medium term living,” he told YachatsNews. “We want people to be looking for other, longer term housing.”

How it works

The tiny homes and RV park are for employees only.

Roslund said his motel managers have people from around the country contacting them about coming to work on the coast. 

“We have to tell them to look for housing first,” he said.

Derrick and Amelia Fitzgerald and their two teen-agers arrived in their 34-foot RV in early September. The Arizona natives have spent the last five years living and working in 17 states, and came to Yachats after four months at Loon Lake Resort east of Reedsport.

Now, in exchange for a place to stay and wages, Derrick Fitzgerald will work on landscaping and Amelia will staff the front desk, both the type of jobs that the motels have struggled to fill this summer. In between they homeschool their children, age 13 and 14.

Mike Pemberton had been renting in downtown Yachats. He’s now in an 8- by 24-foot tiny home tucked among the trees, paying just enough rent to cover the motels’ costs.

The RV and tiny home areas have conditional use permits from the city of Yachats, approved with conditions by the Planning Commission. The RV park was OK’d in June 2021 and the tiny home project in November 2022.

Developed a year after the three RV “work camper” spots, Roslund initially intended for the structures to be slightly larger “park model” homes but switched to tiny homes after checking out manufacturers in the Willamette Valley and what was more suitable for the coastal environment.

“We had a lot to learn,” he said.

The tiny homes range in size from 192 to 225 square feet but have a second floor sleeping loft big enough for a queen bed. There’s a galley-type kitchen, full shower and a washing machine that can also dry clothes. Pemberton’s unit has a back porch; on the other two models that space is a second room that could be used as an office or small bedroom.

The homes still need “skirts” around their exterior, railings for the walkways and landscaping to come after fall rains begin.

The cost of the tiny home project totals about $515,000 Roslund said, including their individual cost of $150,000 to $160,000, construction upgrades for coastal weather, and site development for water, sewer, electrical, propane and landscaping.

The Fireside and Overleaf’s effort is not unique to the coast, but just one of several where businesses try to help with housing for hard-to-find employees struggling to find reasonable places to live.

Others include Samaritan Health Services, which has more than a dozen apartments and RV spaces it rents to traveling nurses and other providers; a few restaurant owners in Yachats and Waldport have houses or apartments they rent to workers; Pacific West Ambulance has had to help with housing to lure paramedics to the coast; and Oregon State University recently approved $16.5 million to build a 77-unit apartment complex for students and faculty at its Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.

Anthony Muirhead, general manager of the Adobe Resort in Yachats, said there are four Adobe employees living in rooms at the Newport Inn, which is owned by the resort’s new owners, Fusion Lodging.

While the extreme demand for hospitality employees has eased a bit since 2021, both Roslund and Muirhead believe they have to keep finding ways to help ease the housing crunch for workers.

“I now have more tools in the toolbox if someone wants to work and move here,” Muirhead said of his ability to now house workers in other company motels. “It’s essential. Housing is now essential to hiring people.”