It creates a loyal and stable workforce. Other employers use housing assistance benefits to revitalize specific neighborhoods, says Marcus. For example, Columbia University has a program that gives employees money if they use it to buy or rehabilitate homes in the area directly around the university's neighborhood in upper Manhattan. Choice of structures Employers can structure housing benefits in more than one way, says Marcus. The most popular is the forgivable loan, similar to Fannie Mae's own program, followed by deferred or repayable loans.
Employers also can provide employees with outright grants that are set up like a bonus.
If the employee does not stay with the company for the required length of time, then the grant must be repaid. Under another benefit, shared appreciation, the employer invests in the house along with the employee and gets a share of the proceeds when the house is sold or the employee leaves. Since the mid-1990s, Fannie Mae has offered free consulting services to employers that want to set up their own housing benefits programs. To date, the institution has worked with 63 employers. Fannie Mae does not give tax or legal advice on setting up housing assistance programs, and advises employers to check with their accountants and lawyers on these issues.