Is your boss doing it? Employer-assisted housing “is rapidly gaining momentum,” reports Samantha DeKoven of the Metropolitan Planning Council in “Ideas@Work” (October), published by the Campaign for Sensible Growth. “Lake Forest College, Loyola University, University of Chicago and Wheaton College have encouraged employees to live in nearby communities through a variety of programs. The City of Chicago, City of Evanston and other municipalities offer down payment assistance or reduced interest loans to police officers buying homes in the communities they serve. Holy Cross, Lake Forest and St. Bernard hospitals offer local housing initiatives. Bank of America, Bank One and Fannie Mae offer down payment assistance to help their employees buy homes.”
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“Pressure to raise high school students’ academic performance has diverted attention from career programs, which are suffering from declining enrollment and poor image,” writes Maureen Kelleher in Catalyst Chicago (October). “Today, CPS [Chicago Public Schools] career training consists of three-course sequences in 11 industries.” In order of enrollment numbers, those industries are information technology, business and finance, hospitality, construction, communications, manufacturing, transportation, health, agriculture, public safety, and human services.
By the numbers. Percent of workers receiving federal Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation benefits who find jobs before the benefits run out: 25 (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “The Mismatch Between Federal Unemployment Benefits and Current Labor Market Realities,” October 15).
