MPC and its employer-assisted housing work are featured in the inaugural podcast of Housingpolicy.org and at the recent APA Conference in Nevada.
The National Housing Conference (NHC) and its Center for Housing Policy, renowned for their federal housing advocacy and research, are ramping up their support of local and state housing work. Central to this commitment is HousingPolicy.org, a new online resource for information on successful policies that states and local communities have adopted to expand the availability of homes for working families. MPC is encouraged by the opportunities this new effort creates for Illinois , and is proud to be a partner to NHC and the Center.
Housingpolicy.org’s inaugural podcast focuses on employer-assisted housing and features interviews with Metropolitan Planning Council’s Robin Snyderman and Ray Schmidt of Select Milwaukee, MPC’s Milwaukee EAH partner. It also profiles REACH Illinois and the recent EAH Guidebook for Employers, which MPC co-authored for the national Homes for Working Families. In her segment, Ms. Snyderman describes the new Northrop Grumman EAH program about to launch in the Mississippi Gulf Coast , due in part to technical assistance from MPC.
Ms. Snyderman also explains that the Metropolitan Planning Council has continued to see the benefits of employer-assisted housing as this initiative engages business leaders in housing solutions. By setting up a model that is easy for employers, REACH Illinois housing counseling partners have helped more than 1,400 working families buy homes in Illinois since 2000. Illinois has become a national leader on EAH, offering tax credits and matching funds – administered by the Chicago Dept. of Housing and Illinois Housing Development Authority. More than 70 employers are engaged with MPC’s program, many of them now leaders in supporting state and local affordable housing policies and development proposals.
At the most recent (and most well attended) conference of the American Planning Association in Nevada, Lynn Ross of NHC demonstrated the HousingPolicy.org web page, and Ms. Snyderman spoke about headway on housing policy in Illinois, pointing out the useful role of EAH. With the current foreclosure crisis, both speakers stressed that new private sector resources to support homeowners and communities are more important than ever. Employer-assisted housing programs, as encouraged by the proposed Housing America's Workforce Act (HR. 1850 S. 1078), can be particularly useful – for families seeking homeownership assistance and communities responding to neighborhoods devastated by foreclosure trends.
To learn more about EAH tax credits and matching funds , please visit www.ihda.org. More information about Housing America’s Workforce Act (HR. 1850 S. 1078) is available on MPC’s Web site.