Employees looking to take advantage of the University’s employer-assisted housing program now have some more options when looking for houses.
Effective immediately, the program can now be used in an area of the city of St. Louis bounded south by Delmar Boulevard, west by Hodiamont Avenue, north by the Bi-State right of way, and east by Belt Avenue.
“All things were aligned right for this,” said Brian Phillips, executive director of the Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation, which administers the program. “With the ongoing development on the eastern Loop with The Pageant and the Regional Arts Council Building going up, the area is just taking off.
“It was the perfect opportunity to open the program to another region close to the University and offer some affordable housing.”
The addition marks the first time a new, large-scale construction effort has been included in the program. Two subdivisions — West End Estates and Maple Acres — will provide nearly 100 new houses.
“After we started our program (in 1997), we expanded to the northeast University City neighborhood, to add to the diversity of housing types available to our employees,” Phillips said. “We weren’t targeting a specific level of employee; we wanted to make sure we had affordable housing for all of the University’s employees, regardless of income.
“Now, this expansion adds to the diversity in terms of types of houses available to our employees.”
Developed in partnership with Fannie Mae for University employees, the employer-assisted housing program provides second-mortgage loans to eligible employees who buy a one- to four-family home in an area outlined by the program. The program also is available to students pursuing professional degrees.
The various lenders in the program have products that will allow participants to do purchase/rehab loans, zero-down loans and multi-unit purchase loans (up to a four-family).
For an informational packet on the program, call 633-7913.