Mark Lusson, of Northwest Community Healthcare and MPC Employer-Assisted Housing partner, explains why housing is important to employers.
On behalf of Northwest Community Healthcare, I want to thank you for your leadership on housing issues in Illinois, and for the opportunity to testify today.
In April of this year, we launched an Employer Assisted Housing Program in partnership with the Metropolitan Planning Council and North West Housing Partnership, both to encourage employees to live closer to work, and to increase our appeal as an employer. For many nurses and health technicians, there are endless job opportunities available to them, so all of us in the healthcare field are searching for creative ways to attract and retain a skilled workforce. At the same time, I find that those same employees - - who I often need to have on-call 24 hours a day - - cannot afford the housing of their choice in the northwest suburbs. While many think that living near work is a luxury, for us it is increasingly a necessity.
The new State incentives available made it feasible for us to start a $50,000 program during a challenging fiscal year for the hospital. We are contracting with the nonprofit North West Housing Partnership to administer the program for us, and to provide the needed credit and homeownership counseling for eligible employees. We’ve defined eligibility broadly, for any employee of good standing who earns less than $70,500, understanding that not all of those people will be eligible for the State matching funds available. When employees “graduate” from the counseling, we’ve committed $5,000 per employee for downpayment assistance. The Hospital also looks forward to accessing the state tax credit at the end of the year, which will give us approximately 50 cents back on every dollar we invest into this program for people earning less than 120% of the area’s median income. We hope to use this money to expand the program in the future.
To date, we’ve enrolled 27 employees in the program, 5 of which are already homeowners. There’s no question that those engaged in counseling are already thrilled with the program, and that this boosts our appeal as an employer and thus the stability of our workforce. There’s also no question that this is merely a drop in the bucket, when looking at the tremendous need for affordable housing in our community.
Frankly, I started out with an interest in purchasing an apartment building for our employees, and ensuring them affordable rents. We ended up not going down this road, partly because the incentives and supports weren’t available, but I do want to encourage you to think creatively about how to leverage the interest of employers like me who want to make wise investments in housing a competitive workforce.
Every time I lose an employee who earns less than $25,000 a year, it costs me at least $15,000. At the same time, I know that people earning less than $25,000 can not afford to live within 30 minutes of the hospital. The housing stock is simply too expensive.
Thank you for allowing me to testify today, and for your attention to this critical issue.