CVS offers housing benefits with Freddie Mac help
BenefitNews Connect@@August 2, 2005
With assistance from Freddie Mac, pharmacy chain CVS/pharmacy recently started offering its 1,000 employees in Washington, D.C., a homeownership program that includes special loans, down payment and closing cost assistance and financial education.

Freddie Mac, which buys and sells mortgage-related securities, helps employers to provide homeownership benefits. It advises employers on how to structure such benefits and links them with lenders, nonprofit housing counseling agencies and down-payment assistance programs in their area. Typically, Freddie Mac gives this free assistance to companies with 1,000 or more employees.

CVS offers employees a $500 forgivable grant to purchase a home. Eligible employees also receive a temporary interest-rate reduction, increasing purchasing power up to 30%. Most employees must work at CVS for two years in good standing before they use the benefit, but pharmacists and management-level employees are eligible upon hire. Participation also will require three years of continued employment. CVS hopes to extend the benefit nationwide, eventually.

The company aims to improve its employees' homeownership rate, which is 65% in the D.C./Baltimore area, trailing the national rate of 69%. The program will "help promote employee recruitment and retention," says Gordon Howard, a CVS area vice president.

Employers interested in seeking assistance in setting up homeownership programs can visit Freddie Mac (http://www.freddiemac.com/news/archives/afford_housing/2005/20050602_solution.html) or call 703-918-5134.

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