Forget stock options. Some Bay Area employers are handing out down payments

"San Mateo County social worker Aldo Quintero and his wife, Liza, make respectable salaries in their government jobs, but in a region with a median home price of $1.4 million and a county where the figure reaches $2.2 million, a home for the couple and their two kids in the community they serve was out of reach. For years, Quintero commuted an hour-plus across the Bay from Hayward,"

"Each year, the Quinteros entered a program sponsored by the county for its employees - a lottery awarding 20 loans of up to $100,000 toward the purchase of a home in San Mateo County. In 2023, they won. Along with the loan, they scraped together their savings plus money from their family to put in an offer of $780,000 for a two-bedroom, one-bath condo in Foster City, just a 10-minute drive from work and their children's school."

"Employee housing stipends have long been a feature of high-paying jobs in the corporate world, but the middle-income workers educating children, repairing roads and working in hospitals often must look far from where they work to find a home they can afford to rent, let alone buy. To give their employees a fighting chance in the housing market, some local governments, universities and hospitals are offering down payment assistance as an employee benefit."

A San Mateo County social worker and his wife earn respectable government salaries but could not afford a local home amid median regional and county prices of $1.4 million and $2.2 million. Quintero commuted more than an hour from Hayward until a small Belmont rental brought them closer, but raises still did not keep pace with housing prices. The couple won a county employee lottery that awards 20 loans up to $100,000 for home purchases; they supplemented the loan with savings and family contributions to bid $780,000 on a two-bedroom condo in Foster City. Public employers, universities and hospitals are increasingly offering down payment assistance as an employee benefit to help middle-income workers put down roots near their workplaces rather than face punishing commutes or leaving the community.

Read at The Mercury News