By Guest Author- December 17, 2010
This post was written by Holly Moskerintz, Community & Political Affairs Representative, National Association of Realtors®.
As manager of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Employer-Assisted Housing (EAH) class and EAH initiatives, I have begun reaching out to nonprofit housing organizations, human resources managers, city officials, and other potential partners to educate them about EAH.
I discovered last week that a great place to find nonprofit housing organizations is at the NeighborWorks Training Institute, a week-long training for affordable housing practitioners. I was given the opportunity to organize a workshop for the Institute on EAH, not only to introduce participants to EAH but also to show them how it can unlock new markets. Joining me on the panel was Irma Klassen from Select Milwaukee and Lessley Wood from The Housing Partnership Inc. Both organizations have EAH programs where they administer and manage EAH benefit plans for companies and organizations.
My presentation provided an overview of EAH, the various types of EAH options—including education, counseling and financial assistance—and the benefits of EAH to employees, employers and communities. I also highlighted NAR’s EAH class, which includes an Action Plan that encourages REALTORS® to form a team and partner with local nonprofits, lenders, and other real estate industry service providers to have the best success when implementing an EAH initiative in a community or a benefit plan in a company.
Irma and Lessley described their EAH programs, talked about some of the companies in their regions that offer EAH benefits, and explained what their organizations do to manage and administer an EAH benefit for an employer partner. I noticed that both organizations had a hospital as a client, which shows that place-based employers are good candidates for EAH.
Those in attendance showed a great interest in EAH and asked a variety of questions both during and after the workshop. They were eager to find out more about EAH and how their organizations can become more involved in administering and managing EAH benefits for companies in their areas.
NAR and MPC can help you get involved in EAH. Here are some ways you can plug in: