Helping Employees Overcome the Homeownership Affordability Barrier

It’s easy to miss stories on issues that don’t hit close to home, so the fact that the U.S. has been in an affordable housing crisis for years may come as a surprise to some. If it’s news to you, consider yourself blessed.

According to noted economists John Myers, Sam Bowman and Ben Southwood, the housing crisis is about more than just a lack of affordable homes. In their article The Housing Theory of Everything , which appeared on the Works in Progress website, “Western housing shortages do not just prevent many from ever affording their own home. They also drive inequality, climate change, low productivity growth, obesity, and even falling fertility rates.” In other words, the affordable housing crisis has affected virtually every facet of the United States economy. It has likely affected you, whether you realize it or not.

Also, the United States has one of the highest house price-to-income ratios in the world, which means U.S. home prices have grown faster than incomes in all but a few countries.

However, here’s some good news — Cavco Industries, Inc., a 62-year-old Phoenix-based housing manufacturer, is doing something about it beyond building and selling homes. It is working to make a positive difference in the affordable housing crisis by tackling the issue close to home — for its employees — by helping them achieve home ownership through its unique Homes for Our Own program.

Cavco’s Homes for Our Own (HFOO) Program

In 2023, Cavco launched Homes for Our Own (HFOO), a six-week, interactive workshop for company employees that provides them with an understanding of what it takes to purchase a home. Additionally, the program is self-funded and invites Cavco employees to donate to HFOO to help program graduates. These voluntary donations can be as little as $2 per paycheck and taken out through automatic deductions. Additionally, Cavco contributes as well and matches employee donations up to $200,000 annually. The donations and matching funds go to HFOO graduates who qualify for financial assistance to purchase their first home.?

In January 2024, Matt, one of the company’s first HFOO graduates to purchase a home, said, “Probably the biggest thing HFOO helped us with was creating a savings plan. Even if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, it’s amazing how much you can save if you have a plan. We ended up saving a couple thousand dollars in a month.

“Now I’m the first person in my family to own a home,” continued Matt. “For so long, owning a home felt like an impossibility. Then HFOO came along, and at the perfect time.”

According to Joe, another HFOO graduate who moved his family of six into their new home in North Carolina on Christmas Eve 2023, what he learned about budgeting and saving was the most educational. Joe and his wife were always asking themselves this age-old question — “Where does all of our money go?” After they created a budget and tracked expenses, they soon found out. It wasn’t long until they had, along with Cavco’s matching funds, enough for a down payment.

?In addition to budgeting, HFOO program participants learn about a wide range of homebuying issues, including homeownership readiness, the process of buying a home, types of loans available, building and maintaining credit, paying off or consolidating debt, property taxes, working with realtors and creating a helpful rent vs. buy analysis.?Even if participants don’t decide to buy a home after taking the course, what they learn in the six-week program is financial information that will serve them throughout their lives.

The HFOO curriculum is?modeled after HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) training that is often required of homebuyers in a down payment assistance program. That is especially significant because HUD is the U.S. agency that, since the 1974 passing of the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act, has regulated manufactured housing through its HUD Code.

Tackling the Affordable Housing Crisis One HFOO Graduate at a Time

HFOO has been a dream of Cavco CEO?Bill Boor’s for years. “I wanted to make sure Cavco was doing everything possible to address the affordable housing crisis,” said Boor. “And I wanted to start close to home by helping our employees. Homes for Our Own is a wonderful opportunity to put our commitment to address affordable housing into action and support our employees’ long-term success and prosperity.”

This irony is glaring. Employees whose jobs are to build, sell, insure or finance homes for others buying them may not know how to buy a home or where to find the proper resources. Now they do thanks to HFOO.?

According to Homes for Our Own Program Manager Flavio Bravo, “We have two primary goals — First, provide Cavco team members with the education and financial literacy needed to prepare for the purchase of a home. Second, financially support them in their home purchase. Homes for Our Own represents our collective commitment to help one another achieve success and grow our local communities.”

HFOO’s Success is in the Numbers

To date, the HFOO metrics are impressive, especially considering the program is less than a year old. In nine months, 86 employees have donated almost thousands of dollars to HFOO. So far, 31 employees have completed the HFOO classes at four different plants. The classes meet once a week for six weeks and last one hour. The best statistic? Two employees — Matt and Joe — have bought their first homes through HFOO.

HFOO perfectly fits into the company’s ONE Cavco cultural philosophy and supports each of the program’s three key pillars — Cavco’s commitment to make a difference, ensuring all employees understand what drives the company and knowing why what each team member accomplishes matters. Homes for Our Own and ONE Cavco are just a couple examples of why Cavco was named to Forbes’ list of America’s Best Mid-Sized Companies in 2022 and 2023.

To find out more about Cavco’s Home for our Own program, watch this VIDEO featuring Cavco CEO Bill Boor.