OCEAN CITY – A shortage of rooms available to J-1 Visa students this summer is a definite concern heading into the resort’s busy season, according to city officials, sponsor companies and tourism representatives.
Thousands of foreign students from all over the world are expected to arrive to work for the summer, as they’ve historically been a vital cog in the wheel that turns Ocean City’s summer economy. However, heightened regulations in recent years by the US Department of State, focused on ensuring that J-1 students have a job and a place to stay before they come to this country, could force sponsor companies to cancel the planned trips of hundreds of foreign students who have already been hired for the summer season.
“It’s definitely a big concern but I don’t think we are at the point of crisis yet,” said Melanie Pursel, executive director of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce. “Employers need the foreign students and rely on them so heavily that if they don’t have a place to stay and can’t come to town because of it, that’s a lot of employers that are going to have job openings right before they get very busy.”
Anne Marie Conestabile, program director for United Work and Travel in Ocean City, says the housing shortage can be attributed to a number of different factors.
“Some older properties in town that used to house our students have been torn down for new development and in some cases, some of our landlords have either gotten out of the game or have decided that they can make more money by renting to American families and students,” said Conestabile.
Yet, those facts are coupled with what Conestabile called an “unfortunate trend” last year.
“I work hard to protect my students, but I’m also very honest, so last summer, we had over 100 students who didn’t fill their end of the bargain and didn’t pay their full price to rent their rooms,” she said. “As you can imagine, that turned off some of our landlords. We monitor it closer than many of the companies do when it comes to making sure the students pay what they need to for housing, but there ends up being no recourse because by the time a landlord figures this out and tries to take legal action against the students, they are already out of the country.”
To combat this problem, Conestabile says there are new pay structures for foreign students in regards to their summer housing.
Conestabile says she will now ask that international students prepay a $500 pre-arrival fee that will be divided into $250 deposit and $250 for the first two weeks rent. The total fee of their rent for the summer will then be divided into five payments, rather than the traditional week-to-week rent payments.
“The federal government wants us to treat the students as if they were Americans because this is a diplomatic program,” said Conestabile. “This gives the landlord some money and protection, and at the same time, it doesn’t ask too much of the students coming to town who need to work right off the bat to start paying their way in town.”
It’s an immense cost for foreign students to get to Ocean City, which is as much as $2,000 to $3,000 in most cases, but in past years, once the students get here, they have found themselves crammed into housing in the resort. That fact has led to an uptick in complaints and a subsequent increase in the efforts made by sponsor companies like United Work and Travel to ensure that these students are treated fairly while in the resort.
“These kids want to be here so badly, some of them are afraid to say anything if they feel like they are being wronged,” said Pursel. “It’s our job to make sure that they are treated well and have a good place to stay and a job. Of course, the city needs them and we don’t want to see fewer students coming to town because of that, so we need to fix this issue.”
One thing that seems to be easing the concerns is that the business community, realizing that there is a housing shortage for J-1 students, has been offering more housing for their workers. In some cases, a few of the larger employers have either purchased or are considering the purchase of new properties with the intended use of J-1 housing.
“I’m concerned that I’m going to have to call students who have been vetted and approved and hired and tell them that they can’t come to Ocean City,” said Conestabile. “It would break my heart to have to tell these kids they can’t come, and these employers need these kids to help their businesses meet the needs they have in the summer.”
Pursel says there are about 20 sponsor companies who bring foreign students to town, and based on the regulations, the number of unfilled positions could start to pile up rather quickly if more housing is not found in the coming months.
Conestabile estimates that she is short between 150 and 200 beds for her J-1 students.
Pursel said the housing shortage will likely be a big topic of discussion on April 14 at the Carousel Resort for the International Student Workforce Conference. US Department of State representatives are scheduled to attend.