Housing shortage for shepherds, cheesemakers and hiking guides squeezes São Jorge's primary sector

Plenty of work, not enough housing

Finding staff for milking has become difficult due to the lack of affordable housing nearby.

Two sectors, one bottleneck

Houses close to cheese-making farms are being switched to more profitable holiday rentals.

Tourism: both a competitor and in need itself

Guides and instructors struggle to find short-term rentals.

Calls for a joint response

Specific support for housing workers in the primary and tourism sectors is being called for.

An island built on livestock and cheese

São Jorge is known throughout the archipelago for its cured cow's-milk cheese, a production that depends directly on the availability of workers willing to live in the rural surroundings of the farms, often far from the main population centres. Farmers on the island explain that finding young workers willing to settle near the cheese-making operations has become almost as difficult as finding available housing to offer them, a problem that barely existed a decade ago.

Active tourism competes for the same land

Hiking and active-tourism companies, booming thanks to the island's network of fajãs and levadas, need to house guides and instructors during the high season — precisely when rental availability is scarcest due to competition from short-stay tourist accommodation. Several business owners in the sector admit they have had to forgo hiring qualified staff simply because they could not guarantee them stable accommodation during the busiest months.

Houses changing use

Owners of homes near cheese-making farms confirm that putting them up for short-term tourist rental is considerably more profitable than renting them to primary-sector workers, which further shrinks an already limited supply. This economic logic, understandable from an individual standpoint, deepens the structural problem faced by farmers and tourism businesses alike when it comes to retaining staff on the island.

A response that is slow to arrive

Representatives of both sectors have raised with the Governo Regional dos Açores the need for a dedicated housing scheme for essential workers on small islands such as São Jorge, similar to those already being discussed in other parts of the archipelago facing similar problems. For now there is no concrete timetable for its rollout, which keeps those who depend on finding stable accommodation to continue working on the island in a state of uncertainty.