City employees are eligible for $20,000 in downpayment assistance for the purchase of a Wolf Ridge condominium through proposed Employer-Assisted Housing program
(Northlake, Ill.)….. The City Council approved
an innovative benefit that will help city employees live in the heart of
Northlake and support
the
Wolf
Ridge development.
Through Employer-Assisted Housing (EAH), the village will provide free
homeownership counseling and $20,000 in downpayment assistance to assist city employees
buying homes
in
Wolf
Ridge.
“City employees make
Northlake work, so it’s appropriate for the city to recognize their commitment
by helping them live in the heart of the community they serve,” said Mayor
Jeffrey Sherwin. “Through a modest investment in Employer-Assisted Housing, we
can offer homeownership opportunities to our employees and support housing
development in Northlake.”
The City
of
Northlake is the developer
of
Wolf
Ridge , a development with 60 one-,
two- and three-bedroom units located
at 77 N. Wolf
Rd., just blocks from City Hall.
Approximately one-third of the units have already been sold, although the
development is not yet open for viewing.
Within a few months, the
City expects to open this benefit to other public servants of Northlake who are
not directly employed by the City – such as school district employees and
firefighters. For now, the benefit is available exclusively to City of
Northlake
employees.
“Employer-Assisted
Housing is a great way Northlake can support community reinvestment, while helping
the city’s public servants reduce their commutes and strengthen their ties to
the community by buying a home in Wolf Ridge,”
said
Lillie
Jernigan, EAH consultant for the nonprofit Metropolitan
Planning Council (MPC).
Jernigan added that,
since MPC
launched
Illinois’ EAH model with pilot
company System Sensor in 2000, more than 60 Chicago-area employers have “signed
on” to offer EAH, and more than 1,500
Illinois
workers have purchased homes through
the program.
City employees will receive
free pre-purchase counseling and education as part of this benefit, which is
proven to help homebuyers prepare for homeownership and avoid foreclosure.
The North West Housing Partnership
(NWHP), a nonprofit housing counseling agency, will provide the counseling; and
assist eligible households in accessing additional downpayment assistance for
their purchase from county and statewide homebuyer programs, including matching
funds available from the State of
Illinois
as well as Cook County American Dream
Downpayment Initiative funds (ADDI).
The
city will be able to recoup some of its investment in EAH through reduced
employee turnover and recruitment costs; as well as through the Illinois
Affordable Housing Tax Credit Program, if applicable, which provides employers a
50-cent tax credit for every $1 they provide in EAH assistance and is
transferable to an entity with state tax liability.
In
Illinois, other employers offering EAH programs include
Allstate, Charter One Bank, Wheaton Franciscan Services, the City of
St. Charles
, and
University
of
Chicago
. MPC helps employers design
customized EAH programs in
Illinois
and nationwide, and provides program
evaluation.
For more information about
Employer Assisted Housing, contact
Mandy
Burrell
Booth, MPC assistant communications director, at 312.863.6018
or
mburrell@metroplanning.org
;
or
Lillie
Jernigan
, EAH
consultant, MPC, at
312.863.6005 or
ljernigan@metroplanning.org
.
For specific questions about Northlake’s proposed EAH program, contact Bill
Kabler, City of
Northlake
, at 708.343.8700 or
bkabler@northlakecity.com.
About the City of Northlake
The
City of Northlake is located in the center of the Chicago metropolitan area near
the confluence of major interstates and expressways with O’Hare airport 18
minutes to the north. The City has great housing values and is conveniently
close to major employment centers.
About Metropolitan Planning Council
Founded in 1934, the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) is a
nonprofit, nonpartisan group of business and civic leaders committed to serving
the public interest through development, promotion and implementation of sound
planning and development policies so all residents have access to opportunity
and a good quality of life – the building blocks of a globally competitive
greater Chicago region.
About the North West
Housing Partnership
Founded in 1990, the North West Housing
Partnership’s mission is to act as a catalyst to bring together the public and
private resources necessary to implement a community’s housing vision and to
create balanced housing opportunities for all.