Wesleyan Introduces Incentive to Encourage Nearby Home Ownership

The Wesleyan administration announced a new program this week to make Wesleyan a more environmentally sustainable campus. The announcement was partly in response to a review of environmental sustainability (The Green Report), published in 2008 which showed that commuting by employees accounted for about 5% of all Wesleyan's greenhouse gas emissions and nearly half of those caused by Wesleyan-related travel.

During the past few years, Wesleyan has been slowly divesting itself of wood-frame houses with high renovation and/or maintenance costs. Most of these houses have become owner-occupied. This year Wesleyan is offering 4 houses for sale; the sustainability initiative provides a Wesleyan grant of $10,000 to any employee who purchases one of these 4 houses as his or her primary residence.

About one-third of Wesleyan employees currently live within a 2 mile radius of campus, with this incentive program, Wesleyan hopes to increase this number.

Here is part of the email sent to faculty and staff by Vice-President for Finance John Meerts:

A sustainable campus is important to Wesleyan and to the environment. Increasing the number of faculty and staff who reside in the Wesleyan neighborhood and walk to work will promote sustainability and will improve the campus experience for all. Yet, despite historic low mortgage rates, many Wesleyan families remain unable to purchase homes due to a shortage of cash toward down payments and renovations. Most of the homes in the Wesleyan neighborhood are 100 years old and in need of renovations. To overcome this barrier to home ownership and to encourage Wesleyan faculty and staff to live on campus, a new incentive program is available on these homes for sale by Wesleyan. The home purchased must be the primary residence of the faculty or staff member as defined by the IRS for at least the two year period following the purchase. Wesleyan will provide a $10,000 contribution, credited at the time of closing, to eligible faculty or staff who purchase a Wesleyan home. The faculty or staff buyer may apply the $10,000 toward closing costs, down payments, and/or renovations as law provides. Any mortgage may be used to finance the purchase.

-----------
Disclosure: I work at Wesleyan.