Philadelphia Home Buy Now

Posted by on November 21, 2011

Philadelphia Home Buy Now

A benefit that keeps you competitive

Recruiting and retaining employees—a bottom-line issue
Today employers working with a leaner workforce must make every dollar count to attract and retain experienced employees. Employee turnover eats into your bottom line, draining your organization of time, money and morale. Replacing a qualified employee, experts say, can cost as much as 150 percent of that position’s annual salary in direct and indirect expense.

Make your benefits package work for you
As an employer, you know how important benefits are to prospective and current employees. In fact, surveys indicate that more than half of employees would prefer increased benefits over higher pay, if given the choice.

Housing benefit programs— a strategic investment
Nationwide, employers have found that housing benefits offer a powerful incentive for employee recruitment and retention and a great return on their investment.

“Employer-assisted housing” programs help employees to move beyond the most common hurdles to homeownership and purchase a home in the community where they work. As an employer, housing benefits
enable you to:

more effectively recruit and retain employees at every level

strengthen employee morale and loyalty

take advantage of matching government grants and technical expertise

strengthen neighborhood real estate values and improve community life.

Housing benefits come in a range of affordable plans that can be tailored to your budget and phased in over a period of time. They create a win for the employer, the employee and the community.

A flexible program that meets your needs

Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now offers you flexible options and technical assistance to help you customize the program in the most cost-effective way. You decide:

the extent of your financial commitment

how many employees to include in the program

whether to target a particular geographic area in the city.

Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now
The core feature of the Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now is matching grants provided by the City of Philadelphia.
An employer’s one time contribution to an employee is matched dollar-for-dollar up to $4,000 for a purchase of a house in targeted areas. For a house purchased outside of the targeted areas, the city will
match up to $2,000. Other features include access to discounted housing related services such as
realtor services, home inspections and energy efficiency. Also, access is provided to housing related workshops to better prepare employees for homeownership.
“This program will provide Drexel faculty and professional staff with an added incentive to purchase a home, or renovate an existing home, in the West Philadelphia community surrounding Drexel; a major component of President John Fry’s neighborhood initiative.”
Deborah Eskridge Glenn, Vice President of Human Resources, Drexel University

A benefit that works for you and your employees

Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now helps you open the door to the American Dream
To help Philadelphia employers start their own housing benefits program, the City of Philadelphia has launched Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now in partnership with the Urban Affairs Coalition and employers. The program—for employers located in Philadelphia—provides technical support to enable you to implement the housing benefit that is best suited to your needs, and access matching funds that boost the purchasing power of your employees who buy a home in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now makes bottom line sense

For the Employer:

Attract the employees you want
Homeownership is one of the most powerful incentives any employer can offer. It’s a piece of the American Dream. Employers are able to show an investment in employees that attract better talented and skilled employees.

Avoid the high cost of turnover
Employee turnover costs you in lost revenue for separation pay, replacement costs, and reduced productivity.

Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now can help you stop the revolving door of employee turnover—before it drains time, money and morale.

Strengthen your community
By encouraging your employees to live in Philadelphia, you’ll be investing in the surrounding community, benefiting your business and gaining positive recognition. Homeowners have a greater stake in their
neighborhoods and in preserving their investment.
By exercising the options to further define eligibility to a specific target area around your facility, you can use Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now to stabilize and revitalize the surrounding neighborhood.

Get expert help
Our program experts meet with you one-on-one to help you design the program that best fits the needs and budget of you and your employees, and connect you with all available funding resources.

For the Employee:

Overcome barriers to homeownership
Employees at all income levels who have difficulty saving for a down payment can convert what they now pay in rent to the purchase of a home.

Get savvy and get started
Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now workshops help teach buyers about buying and maintaining a home, financial education and preserving their home.

Reduce commuting time and stress
Living in the city means reducing commuting time and stress—making it easier to report to work on time.

Getting started
To learn how housing benefits can transform your business or organization, contact:
ChristopherWaters
Program Manager
Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now
Urban Affairs Coalition
1207 Chestnut Street, 6th floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-851-1955 (phone)
E-mail: cwaters@uac.org
http://www.uac.org/philadelphiahomebuynow