Being a homeowner isn’t easy. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 47 percent of Americans say paying their rent or mortgage is a financial strain. This, the study said, is especially true for many low to moderate-income earners who live in high-cost areas.

In an effort to make the goal of owning a home a reality while lessening its financial strain on individuals, NAR joined forces with the National Housing Conference to host the Bring Workers Home forum in Philadelphia on Thursday to help raise awareness of employer-assisted housing benefits. These benefits, which include forgivable loans, grants, matched savings plans, financial counseling, or home buyer education, have a track record of effectively helping individuals become homeowners, NAR said.

The Bring Workers Home forum brought together local and state housing leaders and various Realtors in an attempt to discuss strategies that would help more families find affordable, decent housing near their workplaces.

Additionally, programs that have been successful in other regions were presented and discussed at the forum. Realtor associations and members, business leaders, housing and community development professionals, city council members, various elected and appointed officials, human resources employees, and benefit professionals were all attendees at the forum.

“Realtors® build communities and care about hard working individuals who often cannot afford to live near their places of work,” said Vicki Cox Golder, NAR president and owner of Vicki L. Cox & Associates in Tucson, Arizona. “Besides helping workers gain greater access to affordable, decent housing, employer-assisted housing also helps address local affordable housing needs and challenges and provides benefits to employers and the local community.”

The forum kicked off with NAR’s “Home from Work” continuing education class, which dozens of local realtors participated in. This three-hour class seeks to help real estate professionals better understand employer-assisted housing benefits and teaches them to work with local businesses and organizations to implements these benefits to employees.

The keynote speaker was Stephen Wing, director of workforce initiatives at CVS Caremark. He explained the benefits of employer-assisted housing and shared the success of Prescriptions for Homeownership, CVS’s housing benefit program which provides qualified employees with homeownership education and grants toward home purchases.