Cargill’s Assisted Housing Program

Background: Our facility at Schuyler is one of Cargill’s 8 beef- processing plants in North America and was established in We are currently the largest employer in the county with over 1900 employees from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities.

Employment Challenges Maintaining such a large workforce requires both local and long-distant recruiting. During busy hiring times we must look outside the area to meet our hiring goals. –We have achieved this through mobile recruiting in areas with high unemployment

Employment Challenges cont… The amount of work this entails has required us to hire a full-time recruiting specialist. We have also assigned a relocation specialist at the facility that manages the relocation process.

Relocation New hires are provided with resources and contacts for housing in the area. Air or bus travel is provided by Cargill and new hires are given the option of taking loans.

Relocation cont… New hires are often relocated in groups of 20 to 30 per week. Many of them choose to room together due to limited housing options and to lower cost.

Housing Challenges Schuyler’s population increased by 33% during the 90’s while households only increased 7%. Our new hires often arrive with little or no money and many leave family behind to come to work. Very few new hires arrive with their own transportation and due to the difficulty and cost of transporting, possessions such as furniture are often left behind.

Housing Challenges cont… For this reason, our focus has been on rental properties and apartments rather than homes for sale. Most of our new hires do not have the means to purchase a home upon arrival.

Housing Challenges cont… Many of our candidates come from larger metropolitan areas and are accustomed to having a wider range of housing choices than this area can offer. Finding available housing has been very difficult as the Columbus, Schuyler, and David City areas have been depleted of available rentals.

Housing Challenges cont… Our local businesses stand to benefit from an influx of new consumers; however, without housing our businesses are losing out on this opportunity. –Example: We recently had a group of approximately 100 new hires that were scheduled to move into the area but we could not find housing for the group.

Cargill and the Community’s Response Area businesses, community and government representatives are working together for solutions Housing forums have been held and reference has been made to Schuyler’s Housing Assessment and Strategy Plan

Cargill and the Community’s Response cont… Our PR Dept has met with the Governor and the Mayor of Columbus. A shuttle service has been started that is available to bring employees from Fremont & Columbus.

Plans for Future Challenges At the moment, the Fremont area has provided us with much needed housing opportunities. Schuyler’s community leaders are also working with various housing consultants toward long-term solutions.

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