Employers help revitalize Philadelphia neighborhoods
Courtesy of Philadelphia Home Buy Now
Valerie Garfield, a lab technician at the University of Pennsylvania and a recent Philadelphia Home Buy Now homebuyer, stands in front of her new home with husband, Thaddeus Garfield, and daughter, Kimberly Johnson.
By Christopher Waters- August 28, 2012
Last July, the City of Philadelphia re-launched Home∙Buy∙Now, our Employer-Assisted Housing (EAH) program, a public-private partnership to help working families buy homes in Philadelphia. The City’s $150,000 has leveraged $320,000 in employer dollars, which has led to $10 million in home sales – in just the last year.
We are partnering with a diverse group of both local and national employers, such as NewCourtland and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. In addition, three local anchor institutions – Temple University, Drexel University, and the University of Pennsylvania – are using the housing incentive to encourage employees to live nearby, part of a broader strategy to help build vibrant communities around their campuses. The program also helps build community on campus, as the universities all report that employees value the program and appreciate the assistance in becoming homeowners. The anchor institutions’ employees have purchased 35 homes in the targeted areas during the first year of the re-launched program.
“Philadelphia Home Buy Now provides a visible, tangible benefit that simultaneously demonstrates Temple University’s commitment to the surrounding community and our employees,” reports Beverly Coleman, Temple’s Assistant Vice President for Community Relations and Economic Development.
“Philadelphia Home∙Buy∙Now is an excellent tool for employers to recruit top talent and for the city to create more stable, flourishing neighborhoods,” said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.
You can learn more about the program on Oct. 10 at Bring Workers Home, a workforce housing forum taking place in Chicago. Among the speakers will be Jim Flaherty, Senior Manager, City of Philadelphia. Register for the forum today.
Christopher Waters is the Program Manager of Home Buy Now, Philadelphia’s Employer-Assisted Housing program. He can be reached at cwaters@uac.org or 215-851-1955.