Multi-Housing Industry Employees Get Time Off to Vote

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorNew York–With long lines and waits for voting this Nov. 4 across many neighborhoods, the multi-housing industry ensured that their employees got ample time and no penalties for any time they spent out of the office today, casting their ballot.The National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) encourages everyone to vote. Employees are given paid time off to vote in any municipal, county, state or federal political party primary or election. “And judging by the number of ‘I voted’ stickers around the office today, nearly everyone has done so,” a spokesperson for the NMHC tells MHN.The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) gives all employees two hours of free leave to vote, plus time to walk to Starbucks for the free election coffee being offered for voters today. NAHB’s salaried employees do not have to use Paid Time Off (that’s what the association calls personal leave) to vote.Linda Couch, deputy director of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), tells MHN, “We’re doing what we always do on election days: giving all staff the time they need to go and vote. We have employees in the District of Columbia plus two states, so we accommodate varying conditions for all employees. Some employees need or want to vote early or late and, just as we provide time off for jury duty, we provide time off for voting.”Meanwhile, employees at Enterprise Community Partners—a non-profit provider of capital and expertise for affordable housing and community development—were “psyched” about the election. Some employees took the day off to help their candidate, others traveled out of state to get people to vote.