The high cost of housing in the local area poses a challenge for the university in its efforts to recruit highly qualified faculty. Recognizing the importance of affordable housing, the university maintains a rental assistance program. The Rental Assistance Program is intended to ease the transition into the local housing market for new tenure-line faculty (with start date of on or after June 1, 2019) during the first three years of their appointment by providing monthly rental assistance in the form of supplemental pay. Please see FAQ below and LMU Financial Rental Assistance Policy for more details.
The Rental Assistance Policy goes into effect on June 1, 2019.
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Beginning on June 1, 2019, only newly hired, incoming tenure-line faculty members are eligible to apply for rental assistance program. Newly hired, incoming faculty members who already own a home are not eligible. See policy for details. The Rental Assistance Policy is not retroactive, and will be applied prospectively only.
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Eligible faculty members apply only once upon hire at the university. Once an application is approved eligible faculty will receive taxable rental assistance for three contiguous years without having to reapply provided the faculty member remains in good standing at the university and no other disqualifying factors occur (e.g. a home purchase). For an application, please contact the LMU Faculty Housing Office.
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No. The amount provided upon start date is non-negotiable with no exceptions. Per the Policy, rental assistance is provided for three contiguous years beginning at employment start date. It cannot be suspended and restarted at a later date.
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An annual rental assistance amount is determined (see policy for amount). That amount is spread equally over the course of a year via every pay period. Rental assistance is considered taxable revenue by the IRS, and it does not count toward 403b matching. The rental assistance amount cannot be provided as one lump sum payment each year.
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The rental assistance amount provided is intended to support eligible faculty members with the cost of rental housing in Los Angeles. Location and type of housing is the faculty member’s choice. Lease agreements are between faculty renter and landlord only with no university involvement.
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No. Individual LMU Faculty Housing programs cannot be combined. An eligible faculty member may apply for the home loan program while receiving rental assistance. However, once the home loan is funded to escrow then rental assistance will immediately stop.