University of Chicago
Employers use housing as a perk for workers
by Celeste Garrett | May 6, 2003
Chicago Tribune
The University of Chicago has launched a $675,000 housing assistance plan aimed at moving faculty members, administrators, nurses and even doctors who haven't been able to keep up with Chicago's escalating home prices closer to work.
"Only about 30 percent of our staff lives near campus right now, and this is an opportunity for our moderate- and middle-income employees to purchase a home in the area," said Sonya Malunda, assistant vice president of community affairs at U. of C.
Starting this week, she said, employees of the university and affiliated hospital can apply for one of the 90 "forgivable" home loans of $7,500 each over the next two years. The loan is at zero interest and doesn't have to be paid back, as long as the employee stays with the company, and in the home, for five years.
The U. of C. joins 14 other companies in the Chicago area that have recently offered about $1.5 million in housing incentives to about 200 employees after their bosses got a nudge from the Metropolitan Planning Council. The council is among several organizations across the country encouraging employers to dangle housing perks to cut commutes, recruit and retain workers and offset a real estate market moving out of the reach of middle-income professionals.
"There was a time when health care and child care were not employers' issues and now they are," said Robin Snyderman, housing director with the council, a non-profit that promotes government and business policies in the six-county area. "We're hoping housing will become central to an employer's operation and benefits."
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