Tuesdays at APA — October 2008

Employer-Assisted Housing

October 14, 2008

Employer-Assisted Housing (EAH) in Illinois has proved itself a meaningful strategy for leveraging employer dollars as well as leadership from both the private and public sectors. With Illinois among the top 10 states for residential foreclosures, most planners agree that public sector resources are insufficient to address the demand for quality affordable housing.

In both expensive high job growth communities and more affordable redeveloping communities, resources are tight, community acceptance is limited, and political leadership around housing is very challenging. Still, there's been tremendous headway on housing policy at the state and local level in the last 10 years, when Illinois's first ever state housing policy was created, transformed into a Comprehensive Housing Plan, and codified into law. Various enacted pieces of legislation support this new plan, and dozens of local leaders have introduced new policies and development proposals that advance both state and local housing goals.

Robin Snyderman will share how EAH has worked for employers and communities of all types and sizes, and she will discuss how policymakers have leveraged this investment to support greater affordable and workforce housing policies and proposals.

PowerPoint presentation (ppt)

PDF of PowerPoint presentation (pdf)

About the Speaker

Robin Snyderman is the vice president of community development for the Metropolitan Policy Council (MPC). While working at MPC she helped launch several nationally recognized regional efforts, including the Regional Employer-Assisted Collaboration for Housing (REACH), the landmark Regional Rental Market Analysis, a partnership with the Housing Committee  of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, the Building Successful Mixed Income Communities Forums, and the Regional Housing Initiative. In 2002, Snyderman staffed the Transition Team Housing Committee for Governor Rod Blagojevich and currently serves on the executive committee of the Governor's Housing Task Force.