Labor shortage challenges North Bay employers

Celia Campos and her husband, Francisco, grew up in Calistoga and would love to live in their hometown, where their relatives still reside.

But they have realized they will never be able to afford a home in this tourist town of slightly more than 5,000 citizens with no room to grow, sandwiched between the Diamond and Howell mountains. Over the past two years, the typical Calistoga home has sold for about $850,000.

“Who can buy a home here?” Campos noted. “It’s crazy.”

And that’s a massive problem for the city’s economy, a town in Napa County where the vast majority of the 320 businesses are tied to the hospitality industry.

Like many places around the North Coast, it’s a place that relies on busboys, janitors, maids, cooks, servers and others in the service industry to provide a luxury experience for the affluent visitors who drive the local economy.

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