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A housing benefit - that works

Whenever I hear real estate agents whine about our area's falling home prices, I grit my teeth. Sure, they're technically correct: The median price of a home in the Tampa Bay area - $220,900 - is down 6 percent from this time last year. But give me a break.

By Christina Rexrode, Times Staff Writer
Published August 26, 2007

Whenever I hear real estate agents whine about our area's falling home prices, I grit my teeth. Sure, they're technically correct: The median price of a home in the Tampa Bay area - $220,900 - is down 6 percent from this time last year.

But give me a break. That cost is more than double what it was in 2000, when a house could be had for $102,300.

Wages, if you haven't noticed, have not increased 116 percent in that time. The median pay for a police officer here went from $20.63 per hour to $23.23, according to state data. That's up 12.6 percent, but who's counting? Plenty of people with respectable jobs - teachers, paralegals, nurses, cub reporters like yours truly - are effectively priced out of buying homes here.

"My employees are starting to make their exit plans," said Kathryn Woodling, a director for the HR Florida State Council. "They're telling me, 'I can't afford to live here.' "

Kudos to Woodling for understanding the severity of this problem. Last month, she was part of a panel discussion on a concept that could help solve it: employer-assisted housing, or EAH.

"We see housing becoming as common a benefit as dental insurance," said Anthony Jones, director of Pinellas County Community Development.

Company benefits could range from the simple - like offering workshops on homebuying - to the radical - like buying properties to rent or sell to employees.

Sound revolutionary? Perhaps. But workers are leaving for cheaper pastures. Some employers are embracing the EAH idea:

- Pinellas County gives interest-free loans for down payments to qualifying firefighters, paramedics, pharmacy techs and other workers. It has a similar, forgivable loan program for teachers.

- Two hospitals go farther: Baptist Health South Florida plans to snap up discounted condos or build apartments on land it owns to create affordable rental units for workers. And Morton Plant Mease is reserving seven units of a new Dunedin townhome development for hospital staffers who meet certain income provisions.

"They get to know that they have a place where their employees can live," said Frank Bowman, the county's housing development manager, referring to the hospital. "It stabilizes their work force."

Bowman also would like to talk the School Board into putting teacher housing on the campuses of schools with extra green space. He knows that, for now, his is a lonely voice.

[Last modified August 24, 2007, 19:39:12]