Firms Helping With Housing Costs

The unemployment rate may be low, but so are your chances of finding a place to live that you can afford.

Many companies are now looking at housing assistance as a recruitment and retention tool. Most of the help comes in the form of forgivable or low-interest loans, rental subsidies, or grants to cover closing costs.

Fannie Mae, Xerox and Harley-Davidson are just some of the companies that are offering this necessity-driven perk. Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Yale University in New Haven, Conn., have bought and restored housing in distressed neighborhoods and given their employees financial incentives to move in, reported the Chicago Tribune.

Because teachers, especially, have been priced out by skyrocketing real estate prices, some school districts are taking a serious look at helping put a roof over their heads.

San Francisco Unified School District, located in the nation’s most expensive housing market, is building a 43-unit apartment complex for teachers. Santa Clara Unified School District, in the heart of the Silicon Valley where bidding wars on rundown duplexes are commonplace, also offers a housing grant for teachers.

A recent survey of more than 600 work-force administrators by the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va., found that 6% of employers offered mortgage and rental assistance and an additional 3% provided cash to help with a down payment.