Employers Establishing Housing Programs
(October 15, 2004) -- Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., has teamed up with Fannie Mae and the local Affordable Housing Coalition to provide an employer-assisted housing program designed to keep hospital staff in the area, which is one of the highest housing markets in the state.
Through the program, Mission offers to match up to $2,500 toward each employee's down payment on a home in exchange for that worker's completion of home buyer education courses and debt counseling, as well as their fulfillment of financial qualifications for the property purchase. Fannie Mae's role is to assist the employer with set-up of the program, while the lender agrees to underwrite and originate first mortgages.
Mission's program also requires first-time home buyers to stay with the program for the first six months after closing in order to avoid intrusion by predatory lenders. Fannie Mae says employer-assisted housing programs have many benefits beyond helping the employer to recruit and retain workers, such as enhancing staff performance and improving the local neighborhood.
The Society for Human Resources Management reports that the number of companies offering employer-assisted housing programs has grown from 7 percent in 2002 to 12 percent last year.
Source: Scripps Howard News Service (10/14/04);
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