The University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington plans to build housing for its employees in South Burlington as a way to help ease its workforce shortage.

The hospital is working with a developer to build 61 apartment units for full-time medical staff.

The hospital says there is a severe workforce shortage facing the region’s employers, especially healthcare providers, and one barrier to recruiting workers is a lack of housing.

The Burlington Free Press reports that medical center Vice President Al Gobeille said prospective employees have turned down job offers because they have been unable to find housing.

“We see this property for our permanent employees … and people that we’re recruiting that would need transitory housing if they were to come here and need to buy a house,” said Gobeille.

The medical center is investing $2.8 million to help finance the roughly $15 million project. Gobeille says the goal is to break ground later this month and have the apartments ready within a year.

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