I heard my company has an Employee Housing Assistance Program

      Employers are searching for ways to compete and succeed in today’s fast moving marketplace. Employer Assisted Housing programs from Fannie Mae are a benefit that many companies are now considering. EAH plans are gaining momentum because they make an employer have a more desirable place for an employee to work and are great as a recruiting tool.

       What is Employee Assistance Housing Program (EAH)? How does it work? Employer Assisted Housing or EAH for short.EAH typically involves a partnership among the employee, Fannie Mae, employer and the lender. Essentially, EAH is down payment assistance given to the employee from the employer. The employer offers the employee this benefit most often in the form of a grant, forgivable loan, or matched savings plan.

       Payback of the plan can be deferred, forgivable, or repayable, all of which are based on some employer imposed requirement. One example of what the employer might require is that the employee must agree to stay with the company for a period of time. EAH can be thought of as like a retirement plan, where the employee must stay with the company for a specified period of time to get the full benefits of the company’s contribution to the employee’s housing down payment.

       The employer has their requirements (see below for an example of FNMA’s own requirements for its program that it runs with its own employees) as well as Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae’s requirements center on the individual completing home buyer education and qualifying for the mortgage loan. Once the employee meets the company’s requirements (whatever they may be) and Fannie Mae’s the employee can participate in the company’s EAH program. The EAH program provides several ways to benefit employees, these include: down payment assistance, security deposits or monthly rent payments.

       Fannie Mae started its own EAH program back in 1991 for its employees in the form of a forgivable loan. Since then, nearly 2500 Fannie Mae employees have taken advantage of this opportunity. Fannie Mae requires that an employee must work a minimum of 180 days to become eligible and remain with the company for 5 years to receive the full forgiveness of the benefit. If the employee leaves the company before the 5 year period is over, the employee is required to pay a portion of the benefit back to Fannie Mae.