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Why get excited about the federal employer-assisted
housing (EAH) bill, “Housing America’s Workforce Act,” introduced to the
U.S. Congress in 2005? Given the array of housing challenges facing
families and individuals around the country, advocates and other
thoughtful observers might question the relevance of EAH.
EAH is a generic term to describe any number of ways an employer
invests in workforce housing solutions, such as providing homebuyer
education, down payment assistance and loan guarantee programs. And in
Illinois , the local EAH model has proven a winning strategy.
In the Chicago region alone, there are more than 270 municipalities,
nearly 1,300 statewide, each of which is dealing differently with its
local housing issues.
Meanwhile, more than one-fifth of the state’s households earn less than
80 percent of area median income and experience significant housing
problems (cost burdens, overcrowding and/or substandard conditions).
So how could fewer than 60 individual EAH partnerships between
employers and community-based housing agencies in Illinois have an impact
on the policymaking and availability of affordable housing in a state that
historically had no housing policy at all?
It is frequently pointed out that a good EAH program benefits the
following full range of stakeholders:
•The employer enjoys the benefits of a more stable workforce when
employees live near work. Improved morale, less turnover and reduced
recruitment result in bottom line savings.
•The employee, beyond receiving financial support from an employer to
buy a home closer to work, also gains extra time — formerly spent in
traffic — for family or community life.
•The surrounding community gratefully trades in a portion of its
traffic congestion for the new investment and property taxes, as former
commuters buy homes near their jobsites.
The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), a northeastern Illinois policy
and advocacy organization with business and civic leadership, identifies a
fourth beneficiary — the broader housing arena.
Since MPC launched the Regional Employer Assisted Collaboration for
Housing (REACH) with eight community-based housing partners in 1999, MPC’s
strategic achievements among local and state policymakers have been at
least as encouraging as the very tangible results related to new employee
homeowners and new employer investors.
The initiative, which started in the Chicago area, is now a statewide
effort called REACH Illinois .
MPC advanced the concept of EAH precisely to alter the nature of the
regional housing debate in Chicago by addressing housing as being in the
self-interest of business leaders in the region. In addition, one of the
secrets of the EAH program’s success was that modest partnerships between
housing agencies and employers were leveraged to inform and engage
policymakers at various junctures along the way.
Not only are close to 60 employers now offering EAH, projecting or
experiencing bottom line savings, but Illinois now has a housing policy
and its first ever comprehensive housing plan, which prioritizes resources
to address the needs of employees who can’t afford to live near work.
More than 1,200 employees have begun participating in homeownership
education since the program began in 2000, and close to 600 have
successfully bought homes through an EAH initiative. Of the 269 new
homeowners in 2005, based on available data, employee median salary was
$41,000, while the household median income was $50,000.
EAH has proven effective as a tool to promote affordability in more
expensive, high job growth areas, as well as a strategy to encourage
reinvestment in urban communities.
It has further proven itself among large and small employers alike, as
well as both nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
Looking
Forward
EAH is a particularly compelling strategy because, through 2005, every
dollar of state matching funds utilized for this program has leveraged
over $5 from employers.
At a time in our country’s history, where the public sector seems
unable to address the nation’s housing challenge alone, such private
sector leadership and investment is critical.
In Illinois , the progress started at an incremental pace and then
accelerated exponentially. Employers and municipalities continue to
discover the benefits of EAH and the value of their community-based
housing experts.
At the state level, many observers credit the voice of employers on
housing issues as inspiring local, suburban and state policymakers to give
desperately needed attention to housing policy.
Nationwide, as we struggle to maintain the commitment of federal
policymakers to affordable housing, EAH is a promising strategy.
Details:
Snyderman will
present an in-depth breakout session on Saturday afternoon, April 29, that
addresses public-private partnerships for sustainable solutions to
affordable workforce housing. To read more on EAH in
Illinois
, visit
www.reachillinois.org
.
Snyderman is the housing
director at the Metropolitan Planning Council, a nonprofit, nonpartisan
group of business and civic leaders in the
Chicago
area. She currently
serves on the Executive Committee of the Governor’s Affordable Housing
Task Force. MPC has launched several nationally recognized regional
efforts including the landmark Regional Rental Market Analysis, the
Regional Employer-Assisted Collaboration for Housing (REACH), a
partnership with the Housing Task Force of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus,
and the Regional Housing Initiative.
For more information on the housing seminar,
contact the Leadership Training Institute at (202) 626-3170 or visit NLC’s
website at
www.nlc.org
.
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