Auburn officials trying to reverse decades of population decline are confronting an economic problem that doesn’t fit the traditional Upstate narrative: Local employers have jobs available, but they’re struggling to find people willing or able to fill them.
The disconnect became a major focus of discussion during an Aug. 27 City Council update on Auburn’s Smart Growth Comprehensive Plan. Council members agreed that economic development will be critical to the city’s future, but the conversation quickly moved beyond creating jobs to a more complicated question about why existing openings aren’t translating into population growth.
Councilor Craig Diego raised the issue while reviewing the preliminary framework for the comprehensive plan, which is intended to guide Auburn’s development over approximately the next 20 years.
Diego said the goals outlined in the plan make sense, but argued that Auburn needs economic development and a stronger tax base to support investments in housing, infrastructure, recreation and other priorities.
He also pointed to the city’s long-term population decline.
“People aren’t coming here to stay here,” Diego said. “There’s a problem.”
Mayor James Giannettino Jr. said the problem may not be a simple lack of employment opportunities.
Giannettino said he and Diego recently toured a local business that had completed a major expansion and wanted to add a second shift but didn’t have enough people applying for work. He also cited vacancies at Nucor and changes in hiring at the city itself.
Auburn once had people waiting to take civil service examinations for municipal jobs, Giannettino said. Now, the city has had to advertise openings.
“It used to be there were no jobs here,” Giannettino said. “Now it’s we can’t fill the jobs.”
Councilor Terrence Cuddy said employers are also contacting Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES looking for workers.
“The jobs are here,” Cuddy said.
The discussion highlighted a potentially important distinction for Auburn’s economic strategy. Recruiting businesses and creating jobs remain part of economic development, but council members questioned whether other factors are preventing workers and families from choosing Auburn even when employment is available.
Diego said the city needs to examine that disconnect closely as the comprehensive plan develops.
“If we have plenty of jobs, but nobody’s coming here, and the population declines, I mean, I look back just 26 years on the Census Bureau. That’s a problem,” Diego said.
Councilor Rhoda Overstreet-Wilson raised housing as one factor that could be contributing to the problem. She said Auburn will need affordable housing if it wants families to establish themselves in the city and stay.
Housing is already emerging as a major component of the comprehensive plan. Consultants said community engagement has produced significant discussion about declining affordability, housing maintenance and blight, along with interest in diversifying the types of housing available.
The city is conducting a housing market study as part of the planning process. One of the four preliminary planning priorities calls for expanding access to diverse, quality and affordable housing, including improving the existing housing stock and expanding homeownership opportunities.
Council took a separate step toward that goal Thursday when it approved the transfer of eight city-owned vacant parcels to AHA Development Corporation for the Move-In NY program.
AHA Development Corporation was awarded a $3.025 million state grant to construct eight affordable prefabricated starter homes. The city is transferring the properties for $1, with the transfer conditioned on their use for the program.
City Manager Jenny Haines said the properties were previously home to substandard structures that the city demolished. Most had subsequently been offered for sale without legitimate offers.
Once the new homes are constructed and sold, the properties are expected to return to Auburn’s tax rolls.
The comprehensive planning process will continue this fall as consultants move from broad priorities toward specific policies and projects. Auburn’s community survey will remain open for another few weeks, and another public workshop is planned before development of the full draft.
The workforce question is likely to follow that process. If Auburn already has employers looking for workers while its population continues to shrink, officials will have to determine what else is missing — and what the city can realistically do about it.
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