Dear Editor,

Thanks to Robin Snyderman for a fine article on Employer-Assisted Housing (“Making the Case for Employer-Assisted Housing,” SF #141). Philadelphia, through its Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, has undertaken a similar program. As in Chicago, Philadelphia’s HomeBuyNow shows that by creating a leveraged program for employers and actively marketing it, employers can be brought into the affordable housing and community redevelopment conversation. Employer-assisted housing can be a useful community building strategy in addition to a valuable “bottom-line” benefit for employers and employees.

On June 29, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) introduced the “Housing America’s Workforce Act” (Senate Bill 1330) to facilitate employer-assisted housing programs with federal tax credits. The bill encourages homeownership and rental housing benefits. The bill has bipartisan support, including Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL). In the introduction to the bill, Clinton noted the work that the now defunct American Affordable Housing Institute did on this subject during the 1980s and early 1990s, work that Shelterforce took the lead in publishing [see SF #51]. I hope that the housing community will rally around this legislation.

Daniel Hoffman
former Research Director,
American Affordable Housing Institute  
Consultant, Philadelphia HomeBuyNow