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Hi Candidates!
Please start here.  This is the official VG CEO Job Description.  The Anticipated Search Timeline is below:

May 4th: Kicking off the Search

May to Mid-June: Accepting Applications* To guarantee your application is reviewed by the Search Committee, you must submit it by May 31, 2021 to info@visiongalveston.com.

Mid-June: Interviews of Candidates

August: Onboarding of New CEO

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Vision Galveston Organizational Brief - IP_210420

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This project enables the citizens of Galveston to define a vision for its future. We began by asking what kind of city we want to be and what we need to do to get there.

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This project enables the citizens of Galveston to define a vision for its future. We began by asking what kind of city we want to be and what we need to do to get there.

We started from the perspective of community voice by speaking to 8,500 individuals over a 10 month period. The strategic framework is a culmination of many conversations, feedback sessions, community events large and small, and the collective power of diverse voices.

It's not too late to learn about where we started, where we want to go, and how you can get involved.

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This project enables the citizens of Galveston to define a vision for its future. We began by asking what kind of city we want to be and what we need to do to get there. We started from the perspective of community voice by speaking to 8,500 individuals over a 10 month period.

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Why has Galveston gotten so expensive? Some of the factors behind this trend are national. Across the US, the cost of building new homes and renovating older ones has increased as land, labor, and materials have gotten more expensive. Shortages of raw materials like lumber and bricks as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are set to exacerbate this problem.

Nationwide, the pandemic has also drastically shrunk the inventory of available housing, as many homebuyers, especially older adults who might normally decide to downsize, remain reluctant to leave their homes during the health crisis. Lack of supply can drive up prices. At the same time, places like Galveston are seeing greater demand from prospective homebuyers who are now working remotely and hoping to escape the crowds and congestion of larger urban centers.

Local factors are also at play. In the wake of Hurricane Ike, flood and wind insurance costs have increased, making homes that might otherwise be affordable out of reach. Stricter flood-protection regulations have also contributed to rising housing costs.

Dr. Julia Ramirez, current principal for grades 7-12 at Galveston ISD's SAIL remote learning program summed up her experience with Galveston's housing market like this:
We looked for a home in Galveston for about 6 months. We ended up having to make a choice: a home on the island that needed extensive repair due to age, or the insurance costs were as much as the mortgage-or-a brand new home with warranties and cheaper insurance up the road. We chose to live up the road.
In addition, the growth of short-term rentals and influx of investment capital has also contributed to booming housing prices. While Galveston has always been a tourist town with vacation rentals, the rise of short-term rental sites like Airbnb have made them much more ubiquitous. Since 2016, Galveston has seen a 120% increase in the number of short-term rental listings (2,938 in Nov 2016 to 6,534 in Sept 2020), the overwhelming majority of which are entire homes or housing units. As a result there are fewer homes and rentals available for current and prospective residents, and greater competition for what's left.

Regardless of the reasons, there are costs to working families getting priced out of Galveston's housing market. One set of costs has to do with the character of Galveston as a community. Does Galveston want to be a playground for tourists where only the rich and retired can afford to live? Or does it want to continue to be a diverse, civically engaged, future-oriented city that makes room for the people who serve the community as firefighters, teachers, and health care workers? Moreover, if Galveston loses its authenticity and character, will tourists still want to come? The stock of cost attainable housing will determine the answers to these questions.

There are also real economic and financial costs to losing young families. As one example, fewer families means fewer students in Galveston ISD, which means less school funding rom the state. The Texas Education Agency's Basic Allotment to school districts (based on average daily attendance) is currently set at $6,160 per student. The loss of 1,500 children from the island, then, represents over $9.24 million in lost revenue for Galveston ISD.

Fewer housing options and rising prices will also make it harder to recruit and retain a talented workforce on the island. A 2019 by Randstat US and Apartment Guide, 57% of US employees surveyed said they would quit working for a great employer if their commute was significantly increased and remote work was not an option, including 69% of younger adults. If Galveston becomes a more and more unaffordable place to live and raise a family, key island employers like UTMB and Galveston ISD may find it harder and harder to find and hold onto great workers.

The Executive Vice President and CEO for the UTMB Health System, Dr. Tim Harlin, put the challenging facing Galveston businesses like UTMB this way:
UTMB has called Galveston island home for 130 years. Our future success depends on our employees being able to do the same. We need to ensure for them affordable and desirable housing and quality of life options so that we can continue to attract and retain the best and brightest here in Galveston/UTMB.
More broadly, fewer families on the island and more workers commuting to Galveston also means that more of the money generated by business on the island is being spent elsewhere. To estimate the scale of these economic losses we used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2020 Consumer Expenditure Survey (methodology ) on the total consumer spending by category and income group and applied it to the income profile of Galveston from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey.

The data suggests that Galveston is potentially missing out on up to $50 million in consumer spending each year from having 775 fewer families living on the island. That breaks down to almost $16 million in housing-related spending (mortgage, rent, utilities, repairs), $8.6 million in transportation-related spending, $6 million in food spending.

Of course, not all the money spent by families who live in Galveston is spent on the island, but these numbers are a rough estimate of how much consumer spending Galveston is missing out on due to fewer families living here.

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Making Galveston Affordable for Young Families - VISION GALVESTON

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Since 2010, Galveston has lost an estimated net total of 775 families with children. For most of its history, Galveston has been a growing city of economic opportunity for businesses and families alike. Between 1960 and 2010, however, Galveston lost over 20,000 residents. The last ten years have s

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Incubate Galveston A Collective_Spring 2021

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A first step towards understanding Galveston with a master data set.

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Galveston will be home to a diverse and civically engaged population living in homes they can afford in healthy neighborhoods across the Island.