HR Pulse - Summer 2008 - (Page 51)

markets in which they have substantial real estate investments. Hospitals also can experience good will and an image boost in the larger community by providing EAH. EAH comes in many forms. Programs can be designed to provide both rental and purchase assistance. Speciﬁcs vary. Some programs provide grants. Others offer subsidies. Still others offer forgivable loans. In this article, we will look at some examples. But ﬁrst, a little history on EAH. The Evolution of EAH Employer assisted housing is by no means a new concept. The earliest examples of EAH can be traced back to the 19th century with the advent of company towns like Lowell, Mass.; Pullman, Ill.; and Ybor City, Fla. By the 1920s, however, company towns had become obsolete due to changing metropolitan growth patterns and transportation improvements that allowed for greater personal mobility. The need to live near work diminished, and so did the role of the employer in providing housing assistance. Through the 1980s companies used EAH as an executive relocation perk, an option that became outmoded with the early 1990s recession. About the same time, interest in the modern form of EAH began to grow and was touted as the “beneﬁt of the 1990s.” Specialized ﬁnancing products were developed. Despite these efforts, interest and application of EAH waned because employers had difﬁculty making the connection between providing housing assistance and economic competitiveness. The late 1990s saw a renewed interest in reducing sprawl, increasing economic competitiveness, and addressing the rapid escalation of housing prices. Housing advocates once again pushed the concept of EAH to the forefront. Estimates indicate that in 2004, 8 percent of U.S. employers offered some form of EAH. That’s up from just 3 percent in 2000. Since the 1990s, Fannie Mae has provided technical assistance to help launch more than 700 EAH programs across the country—500 of which were started after 2000. EAH has been used across the country to provide housing solutions for teachers, police, ﬁreﬁghters, and other employees who are essential to community services. With these successes, EAH is now emerging as a vital means to recruit and retain hospital employees. EAH and Hospitals It is difﬁcult to ﬁnd any consolidated information source on hospital EAH. However, a review of the literature yields numerous current EAH can create a powerful incentive for employees to remain invested in both the hospital and the larger community. examples of how hospitals are using EAH to address the workforce shortage and the need for more affordable housing. They include: • Purchase Subsidy: The most popular form of EAH is a purchase subsidy. The hospital grants the employee a sum, typically $3000- $15,000, toward a down payment. The grant is forgiven over time, usually ﬁve years, if the employee remains with the hospital. The ﬁnancial assistance is typically offered in conjunction with a ﬁnancial management and home ownership education program. Hospital assistance is often leveraged with public assistance offered through state and municipal programs to increase the total amount of subsidy provided to the employee. Hospitals that have used this approach include Aurora Health Care (Milwaukee); University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics (Chicago); Northwest Community Hospital (Arlington Heights, Ill.); and St. Mary’s Medical Center (Saginaw, Mich.). • Hospital Owned or Developed Housing: Some hospitals are constructing housing onand off-campus for employee rental. Baptist Health South Florida (Miami) recently purchased a 100-unit apartment building that is currently being rehabilitated. Eligible employees will be able to rent units at below-market rates. In another example, Florida Hospital (Orlando) plans to redevelop the entire neighborhood surrounding the hospital with employee housing. The neighborhood revitalization will link to commuter rail and include retail, park space, and cultural facilities. This multi-year effort is currently in the planning stage. The preceding are just a few examples of what hospitals are doing to deal with the pending labor shortage for skilled workers. No information has been found on how this emerging phenomenon is affecting recruitment and retention. However, it would seem that EAH offers a meaningful approach to bolstering the hospital workforce. EAH Financing To date, EAH programs have been relatively modest both in terms of the number of employees participating and the dollar amounts provided. If these programs are to proliferate, ﬁnancing for 51 HR Pulse Summer 2008 >>

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Pulse - Summer 2008

HR Pulse - Summer 2008 Contents Pulse Points Executive Director's Letter President's Message HR Leader Profile: Carol Bank, SPHR Special Report: Building a Thriving Workforce Creating A Best Place to Work Employee Morale Don't Set Up Your Managers to Fail From Tedious Task to Strategic Process Employer-Assisted Housing Changing the Paradigm of Nurse Recruitment Workforce Recognition: Simple Gestures Go a Long way Advertisers' Index

HR Pulse - Summer 2008

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