Kordeleski is chairman of the Long Island Association's Next Generation Housing Committee, which has brought the Island's premier business leaders together to create an awareness campaign and advocate a platform for affordable components in future planned housing developments. And just last month, the CU tied a ribbon on an initiative it announced last summer: the Employer Assisted Housing Benefit. The program offers qualified BFCU employees access to funding for down payments and necessary repairs on Long Island home purchases.

In a memo sent to employees, Kordeleski stated: "We are very pleased to announce that Bethpage Federal Credit Union is partnering with Long Island Home Works Partnership, the Long Island Association, Fannie Mae, Long Island Housing Partnership (LIHP) and the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation, to offer qualified employees an incredible down payment assistance benefit, along with counseling covering mortgages, funding restrictions, and application processes."

Gaining Steam

Already, three employees have applied to the program (through BFCU and LIHP), noted Lisa King, vice president of human resources for BFCU. "We are getting such positive feedback just from the announcement, so I think there will be many more applicants."

If employees who submit qualified applications go to contract on a home purchase in either Nassau or Suffolk County, BFCU will offer $5,000 (after taxes). It is possible for an employee to receive up to $37,000 in total assistance with matching funds, said King.

The pool of funding available to Long Island employees through the umbrella of the Long Island Home Works Partnership includes federal, state, county and private monies, said Kordeleski. Recently, with the addition of the Homeownership and Economic Stabilization for Long Island Program (HELP Long Island), funding has been enhanced to reach prospective buyers of even a higher-level income. (For details regarding each funding program, information can be found at the Long Island Housing Partnership Web site at http://www.lihp.org/. In most instances, LIHP acts as the administrator of these funding programs.)

Income requirements are distinct between Nassau and Suffolk counties, Kordeleski said. "We're 110 miles-long by 20-miles wide with a total population of three million people. We had a McMansion market and saw the run up in real estate between 2000-2001 when the prices of homes doubled. Even those famous 'Levittown' homes that were built in the post-war boom that sold for $150,000 before 2000 now go for $400,000 and up! These are very simple, small lot 3-bedroom homes, although many have now been modified from their basic, cookie-cutter look."

Kordeleski said this effort was all about helping CU staff stay on Long Island. "This is about our management staff, too, not just about helping tellers and front line representatives. There's a core group of people here that earn 130% over the median income and still find it difficult to be able to live here. We've invested a great deal in our employees and the cost of being able to fill those jobs with talented people is very high. So it's in our best interest to do whatever we can to make it possible for them to do so, and it's also in the best interest of the Long Island community."

King said that turnover at BFCU is acceptable. "It's pretty good, but what I hear is that they want to stay. When they leave it's not because they want to leave the job, it's because they're leaving the Island. The unemployment rate here is low and I see in our young workforce–the people we hire right out of college who are just starting their careers and who want to grow in the credit union–are facing a tough challenge in finding a place to live." Even rentals can be problematic. "We have about half the number of legal rentals compared to other parts of the country similar in population and employment rates. At any given time, there are only 15% of rentals available and there's been a massive crackdown on those illegal rentals due to overcrowding in the agricultural areas, said King.

Linda Armyn, BFCU's vice president of corporate development, said that the rental market, even if available, is no ready answer. "It's so costly that it's almost the equivalent of a mortgage payment. So if you rent, how could it be possible to save up to buy a home? The answer is that it's not."

Armyn said that BFCU has made it a prime directive to be a source not just for employees, but its members, to find a means to maintain a balance between work, family life and the Long Island tradition. "With our community charter we've made efforts to work with local organizations and this program is an example of that. This collaboration can only strengthen our community and if it helps to better the lives of our members, then we'll be delighted with that."

BFCU changed its charter to community in 2003 and Kordeleski said its FOM also includes many challenged areas of the Island, particularly areas of Hempstead and Freeport. But it's entire field takes in all of Long Island (with the exception of the South Fork).

BFCU participates in the NY State Underserved Loan Program and in 2005, made $20 million in loans under that program, increasing it to $40 million in 2006. BFCU is also a big player in the CUNA Home Loan Payment Relief program; having originated 75 HLPR mortgages totaling $25,782,210 to date. In 2005, Bethpage, in tandem with CUNA, launched the HLPR mortgage, reducing monthly loan payments so lower-income homebuyers might qualify. And recently, the New York State Credit Union League announced that its annual loan initiative, spearheaded by a task force of five CUs, including BFCU, exceeded its annual goal with New York's credit unions granting a total of $195,025,081 in 2006 to help families in underserved communities realize their dream of home ownership.

Bethpage is the largest credit union on Long Island with $2.7 billion in assets and 143,000 members. Kordeleski said the CU has grown substantially in several years, but the growth is measured and stable. "In 2000 we had assets of $950 million, now we're $2.7 billion, so we've grown three times our size in eight years. Back then we had 85,000 members, and now we have 143,000. Our loan portfolio has doubled, too. Our loan-to-share ratio then was 47% and now it's 73%. We've targeted a 10% a year growth rate and we'll stay with that," he said. "When we got our community charter, it was the largest charter of its kind in the country. But it was given based on the ability to show a valid business plan and demonstrate that we could grow in a way that was healthy, and I think we've done just that."

Kordeleski said the plan remains: to double in size every five years and open three to four new branches every year to accommodate that growth. Being successful in keeping on plan means that the CU must have a reliable and talented work force. And now, actively helping that work force find an affordable home is a part of that plan.

–[email protected]