WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO CONTACT US BEFORE YOU BEGIN THE PURCHASE PROCESS FOR THE MOST UP TO DATE INFORMATION.
The USC Faculty & Staff Housing Program (FSH) was created to support the recruitment of selected faculty & executive staff by assisting in the purchase or rental of a single-family residence for personal use in the Los Angeles area. Subsidies are available in the form of one-time forgivable loan, monthly mortgage or monthly rental subsidies, non-forgivable loans. Public inquiries about the program should be directed to a Lending Administrator Matthew Drag at drag@usc.edu / (213) 740-7066.
Subsidies are applicable only to the purchase of a single-family home as the sole and primary residence of the borrower. Qualifying properties may include single family houses, townhomes or condominiums. Duplexes or any property that has more than one dwelling unit cannot be purchased through this program.
Eligibility for Faculty & Staff Housing Program Assistance is determined during the hiring process by an employee’s offer letter. If included, an employee’s offer letter will state all eligibility for the Faculty & Staff Housing Program and the amounts of eligible funds. In general, the program is available only to tenure-track faculty and executive staff. Questions or concerns regarding available FSH assistance should be brought to the hiring authority, usually the Dean or Department Chair.
Program Eligibility & General Requirements:
Title/Grade Requirements: Full-time tenure track or tenured faculty (including deans) or executive staff. Subsidies for faculty require approval of the dean and should be included as part of the offer letter.
Options: A school may elect to offer only some of these options. All options are subject to budget restrictions.
- One-Time Subsidy (subsidy paid by the school)
- Monthly Mortgage Subsidy (subsidy paid by the school)
- Monthly Rental Subsidy (subsidy paid by the school)
- University Non-Forgivable Loan (interest payments may be subsidized by the school)
Down-Payment: At least ten percent (10%) of the purchase price is required from personal resources under the university non-forgivable loan option.
Application endorsement is required by the dean of the school (for executive staff; the President, Provost, or Senior Vice President for Administration) before forwarding a subsidy application to the Real Estate & Asset Management office for final approval.
Subsidies are considered part of the compensation package. All subsidies are subject to withholding for income and employment taxes. Monthly subsidy payments will be included in the individual’s pay as supplemental salary for a fixed number of years. Income tax is incurred on the portion of the loan forgiven each year, per the loan forgiveness schedule. Payroll Services will report the amount of interest subsidy that is below the IRS Applicable Federal Rate. The employee will receive a W-2 each calendar year that reports all taxable income received from the University including subsidized mortgage interest below the Applicable Federal Rate. For current IRS rates refer to “Table 1” for the appropriate month of loan funding at the IRS Website.
USC Neighborhood Homeownership Program
