This article from Winning Workplaces calls attention to growing support for employer-assisted housing (EAH) programs. Florida's affordable housing challenge makes this a timely topic for our community.
- Sterling Management Resources
Employer-Assisted Housing Benefits Employers, Workers and Communities
As a System Sensor employee of more than five years, Quadri recently fulfilled his retention commitment to his employer that was a condition of the $5,000 forgivable loan he received to help him buy a house for his family of six. Quadri now lives so close to his employer, he can walk to work when it’s warm. It’s a win-win situation for System Sensor, too: By offering EAH to eligible employees, System Sensor improves its recruitment package for potential hires and experiences greater retention and morale for participating employees.
System Sensor was the first employer in Illinois to offer EAH in 1999. King Harris, president and CEO of Pittway, the parent of System Sensor at the time, understood the need. “Members of a typical working family with a moderate income too often find it impossible to live close to their jobs,” he said. “As a result, our highways are more crowded, families have less time together and employers lose money due to turnover of workers.” Since then, Harris has worked tirelessly to promote affordable housing for low-income families and others in need of affordable housing.
Today 58 employers in Illinois offer some form of EAH, according to MPC Housing Consultant Samantha DeKoven. EAH refers to a variety of ways employers assist their workers with housing. Often, a live-near-work requirement gets workers closer to their workplace, reducing stressful commutes. In some cases, the employer’s assistance leverages state or local dollars, boosting the employee’s home purchasing power.
The EAH movement is so strong in Illinois – a state largely recognized as the national leader in EAH programs – that 26 employers jumped on the EAH bandwagon in 2005. This has translated to more than $1.3 million in employer dollars that were provided to employees in 2005 as down payment assistance toward buying or renting a home near their employer. DeKoven, for one, is not surprised by the spike in participating employers statewide in the past year. “EAH programs help employers combat turnover challenges as well as absenteeism and tardiness,” she says.
Besides helping to curb turnover and absenteeism, EAH programs reap other positive rewards for participating employers. In Illinois, the state’s Affordable Housing Tax Credit reduces an employer’s net cost of implementing EAH programs significantly: 50 percent of the employer’s investment comes back through the tax credit. In addition, investment in the
