Hi everyone! The City of Santa Barbara is looking at ways to assist its employees in purchasing (single family) homes. The housing market here (as elsewhere in California) has made it very difficult for city employees to become homeowners. It has become a major issue in our labor negotiations. We are already a member of a local consortium of banks, title companies and employers that offer a program of reduced transaction costs (appraisals, closing costs, etc.) but we are now looking to do more. It has even been suggested that we become equity partners with our employees in their homes. Unfortunately, very few of our employees qualify for traditional low and moderate income housing programs :). We would like to know if there are any agencies that have developed creative ways to address the high cost of homeownership for their employees. We would appreciate responses by Thursday, March 23rd. Thanks
