Housing Problems Now No. 1 Subject Of Employee-Assistance Calls

USA Today:

Housing problems have for the first time replaced child care as the No. 1 subject of employee-assistance calls, a new report says.

Of more than 25,000 calls from January to June 2010, 41% were related to moving. Of those, 77% sought help finding an apartment, and two-thirds of those seeking apartments said it was "foreclosure related," according to ComPsych, which has tracked employee-assistance calls since 1984. The company, which provides employee-assistance programs to 13,000 organizations with 33 million workers worldwide, will release the report Thursday.

Child care, which has always been at the top of the list, declined from 43% of calls in the first half of 2008 to 32% in that period this year. The moving category increased by 14% in six months.

Read the whole story: USA Today

Comments

[jumpstart the economy]

08:15 AM on 09/19/2010

Housing & jobs go together like a horse & carriage; you can't have one without the other.
Banks are sitting on plenty of homes, evicting people and letting foreclosed properties rot.
Meanwhile, Americans are living in tent cities!
We must increase consumer confidence and spending - consumer demand is the backbone of our economy,
Both the housing & unemployment crisis can be easily, quickly & fairly resolved - without a government bailout & the taxpayer spending a dime!
How about giving all Americans making less than $250,000yr the option to withdraw retirement savings TAX FREE if they pay CASH for a primary or second home or rent to a foreclosure victim? They must keep the home for at least 3 years or pay the taxes.
This would greatly reduce the foreclosure blight, stop home prices from declining, put cash in the economy, increase consumer confidence and spending, and provide much needed employment as well as state and local real estate taxes. Taxes paid by the newly hired would probably make up for the tax incentive.
The result: NO NEW DEBT & AMERICAN JOBS!

[USNDC]

07:30 PM on 09/16/2010

It's funny how the people who caused the financial crisis are reporting record profits ... while the victims of their financial crisis are suffering record losses.

How crazy is that ?

[Matt Corbin]

03:25 PM on 09/16/2010

Pretty telling how many comments there are to this topic given how long it's been up.

[fortressfountain]

03:07 PM on 09/16/2010

I am surprised that your company will help you with housing assistance. Most companies I have worked for would tell me I am on my own.
It is funny how the elite ask the government and others for help when they are in need-yet everyone else is suppose to starve in the streets because it is the moral thing to do?
Isn't expecting things from your company called entitlement? No doubt some 10 hour a week mimimum wage employee is paying for this.

[Alexandra Mandelis]

01:35 AM on 09/16/2010

Not surprising - it looks like a good half of the Impact section of HuffPo is about homelessness!

[lkim65]

12:48 AM on 09/16/2010

The drop in child care calls is in line with the unemployment rate...

[Matt Corbin]

12:39 AM on 09/16/2010

I find it both sad and befuddling that the overtone narrative of foreclosure issues has not been covered from the angle as it relates to voting.

No home = No address.
No address = No vote.
No vote = No improvement.
No Improvement = No middle class.

It's just that simple.

[drbslurp]

10:23 AM on 09/16/2010

Poor people have been voting Democrat for decades, and they're still poor. You'd think they'd have learned.

[thepoliticalcat]

03:14 PM on 09/16/2010

Actually, the "Reagan Democrats" tend to vote republican. They also tend to be overwhelmingly white and blue-collar. And poor. Why they vote against their own interests has been the subject of several books. You might try reading "What's the Matter with Kansas?"

[Matt Corbin]

03:24 PM on 09/16/2010

Not very familiar with median family incomes over the course of history under republican heavy vs democrat heavy US governments are you?

There's tables and charts out there, i'll come back when you're done chewing on your foot.

[booki]

03:31 PM on 09/16/2010

no middle class = .poverty.
and no hope, and lost human beings.
the very people the repubs......belittle..