Pools open as lifeguard shortage persists
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More of Houston's public pools will be open this summer than in the past couple of years, but the city is still looking to hire additional lifeguards to staff more pools.
Driving the news: The city has onboarded 57 lifeguards who are ready to work starting Saturday when the public pools' summer schedule starts, according to Louis Moore, the athletics and aquatics division manager for the Parks and Recreation Department.
- Pre-pandemic, the city would hire nearly 200 lifeguards to work 38 pools, which were open six days a week.
What's happening: This year, 24 pools will be open from June 3 to Sept. 3 on an alternating schedule.
- A dozen will be open Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday, and the other 12 will be open Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. All pools will be closed Monday, according to the pool schedule.
What's next: As the city hires more lifeguards, more pools will be added to the schedule, Moore tells Axios.
Zoom out: Lifeguard shortages continue to bedevil other parts of the country.
- About a third of more than 309,000 public pools are affected by the shortage, per estimates from the American Lifeguard Association.
Between the lines: To help address the shortage, pay for city-employed lifeguards starts at $16 per hour, Moore says. Last year, lifeguard pay started at $13, per KHOU.
- The city also pays an additional $500 — half at the start of the season and the other half at the end — to attract lifeguards, Moore says.
- The incentives have been working, but the city still needs more lifeguards.
Flashback: Houston pools were closed in 2020. In 2021, 10 pools were open, and 14 were open in 2022.
What they're saying: "It's just harder to get people to become a lifeguard. There's a lot of big corporations that are offering jobs $15 an hour or more. And there's not really a lot of requirements for those types of jobs, whereas a lifeguard, you do have to be a strong swimmer, and you do have to pass a pretty comprehensive certification program," Moore says.
What we're watching: The city needs 188 lifeguards, who must be at least 16 years old, to open the pools at full capacity.