3 ms·

For the past few months I've been in a somewhat unusual housing situation. My wife is a medical resident in NYC, and the hospital system she works for is quite

For the past few months I've been in a somewhat unusual housing situation. My wife is a medical resident in NYC, and the hospital system she works for is quite large and owns a lot of NYC property. They offer their employees subsidized housing at greatly reduced rates (meaning, an 1100 sq. ft. Manhattan apartment for $2300 a month). It has a "company town" feel, but it has been great for us, and the incentives seem like they're aligned in this case - employers have an incentive against being extractive because it reduces their employees' effective compensation. The residency program is 7 years which means we're stuck here anyway, and we don't have to worry too much about about her being fired or wanting to find a new job. In a competitive labor market like tech / finance / medicine it seems like employer-subsidized housing isn't a terrible idea, and is an alternative to just relocating corporate offices to a lower CoL area.

cced 4y ago
> it seems like employer-subsidized housing isn't a terrible idea, and is an alternative to just relocating corporate offices to a lower CoL area. Would this be in a way similar to how we've tied health care to employer-based insurance? If so, I'm not sure I'd want to be in a position where my employer subsidizing my housing makes it difficult to leave said employer for better opportunities or, god forbid, you lose your job and then home subsidy.
- toast0 4y ago
  I think it makes sense in some cases and hospital residency is one. It's a temporary position (even if temporary is 7 years), often where the employee has limited influence on the location. They're likely to have lived somewhere else before taking the position, and will live somewhere else after the position. There are existing strong incentives to not move jobs during residency, so an additional one won't hurt too much.

cced 4y ago

> it seems like employer-subsidized housing isn't a terrible idea, and is an alternative to just relocating corporate offices to a lower CoL area. Would this be in a way similar to how we've tied health care to employer-based insurance? If so, I'm not sure I'd want to be in a position where my employer subsidizing my housing makes it difficult to leave said employer for better opportunities or, god forbid, you lose your job and then home subsidy.

toast0 4y ago
I think it makes sense in some cases and hospital residency is one. It's a temporary position (even if temporary is 7 years), often where the employee has limited influence on the location. They're likely to have lived somewhere else before taking the position, and will live somewhere else after the position. There are existing strong incentives to not move jobs during residency, so an additional one won't hurt too much.