I live/work in a very expensive area. On average, studios can go for almost 3000 a month, and those aren’t even the fancy ones. Because of the expensive housing, my job offers housing to employees. The rentals and the land are owned by my employer. Some of the rentals are pretty nice, and cheap compared to what the local private market would rent those units as.
Unsurprisingly, those nice rentals are occupied by the higher ups. The worse rentals are dormitory type situations where people in their 30s share bedrooms and bathrooms with relative strangers.
With housing costs going up, I believe that employee housing is going to be more common place, here are some things that you should take note of before you opt in-
- You are less likely to report problems to maintenance. All of the rentals need some type of work done to them. Personally, my water pressure is a trickle and I have to turn on both my kitchen and bathroom sink to get hot water, for some reason. But, myself and all of my neighbors/coworkers try not to report things to maintenance unless absolutely necessary because we know exactly how much the repairman is being paid and how often he has to work. He is constantly maxing out his overtime and still doing the work because it’s people’s homes, and if he doesn’t do the work, it won’t get done. He is overworked and underpaid just like the rest of us, so we all take care of problems that aren’t our responsibility. They have tried to hire on 3 more maintenance staff, but wouldn’t you know- no one wants to be paid shit and work 24/7.
- You aren’t going to built up any savings. Every year, our rental price goes up, in order to “be reflective of the local housing market”. I don’t know why they wouldn’t want to be the cheapest housing in town- I would think that would encourage good workers to stay with you and bring in new desirable workers, but what do I know. Every year, everyone’s salaries are pumped up a certain percentage to combats inflation as a raise, but the rent increase always seems to match this raise, and you can never seem to contribute anything to your savings.
- You will become a hostage to your job. If I wanted to quit and find better work right now, I would lose my home as well. You are willing to put up with a lot more when you know that you will be made homeless if you choose to stand your ground.