Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now is a city-funded, employer-assisted housing program. Employer-assisted housing programs (such as Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now) are designed to:
- Enable employers to better recruit and retain employees by helping these employees become homeowners
- Give employers another tool with which to improve thecommunities surrounding their facilities
- Increase the demand for housing in the City of Philadelphia
Download Brochure (.pdf)
ATTENTION: The Urban Affairs Coalition has issued a Request for Proposals for the final anchor institution in the Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now Program.
The Urban Affairs Coalition has issued a Request for Proposals for the final anchor institution for the Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now Program. Under Home•Buy•Now, the City of Philadelphia, in partnership with the Urban Affairs Coalition, provides matching grants to employees of participating employers that provide their employees with grants or forgivable loans toward the purchase of a home within the city limits. The Home Buy Now program will match this funding up to $4,000 per home buyer for anchor institutions and $2,000 throughout the City of Philadelphia. The deadline for submitting a Letter of Intent to apply is March 15.
Click here to download the RFP. Deadline extended to Marh 15, 2013 at 5pm.
Program Features
The program provides participating employers with a menu of housing-related benefits to offer to their employees. The key feature of Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now is the matching grant from the City of Philadelphia up to $4,000 in targeted areas and up to $2,000 outside of the targeted areas in the City of Philadelphia. This is an unrestricted, dollar-for-dollar match for grants or forgivable loans made by the employers to their employees for home purchases in Philadelphia.
The program also offers onsite homebuyer workshops, discounted housing services and linkages to other housing programs.
EXAMPLE:
After two years of service, George is now eligible for his employer's housing benefits program that provides a one-time $2,000 grant to purchase a home in Philadelphia. The City matches it dollar-for-dollar for an added $2,000. he uses his combined $4,000 for downpayment and closing costs on a new home. Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now is funded by the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Commerce and administered by the Community and Economic Development Department of the Urban Affairs Coalition (UAC).
Participating Employers
This program is available citywide with extra concentration in certain target areas within the service areas of major educational and medical anchor institutions.
Chick’s Café and Wine Bar
Diamond and Associates
Drexel University*
Energy Coordinating Agency
Horizon House
NewCourtland
Nochumson PC
Re:Vision Architecture
Special People In Northeast, Inc.
University of Pennsylvania*
Urban Industry Initiative
How to Become a Participating Employer
Our team of Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now experts will work with you to create a customized program for your employees. Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now can be tailored to help stabilize the workforce, encourage employees to live in specific neighborhoods or complement other benefits.
EXAMPLE:
An employer commits a total of $22,000 to an employer-assisted housing program. This can be offered in ten $2,000 grants or forgivable loans over the course of two years for employees. The additional $2,000 will go towards home ownership workshops and administration costs of the program.
How Do I Apply?
Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now will match an employer’s assistance up to $4,000 for targeted areas and up to $2,000 for houses purchased outside of the targeted areas in the City of Philadelphia. Your employer may also offer additional housing-related benefits such as home-buying workshops, linkages to lenders, home inspection agencies and housing counseling agencies. To apply for a Philadelphia Home•Buy•Now grant contact your human resources department to see if you qualify for the program and to ask for an application.
If your company/organization does not have an employer-assisted housing program, have a representative from the company contact us about developing one.
For More Information Contact
Christopher Waters
Program Manager
Community and Economic Development
Phone: 215-851-1955
Email: cwaters@uac.org
To request more information click here.