ANAHEIM—Some of Anaheim’s biggest hotels, including those in the Disneyland Resort, are taking an unusual approach to Orange County’s housing affordability crisis: using money collected from tourists to help hotel workers buy homes.

The Anaheim Tourism Improvement District has launched what hotel executives believe is the nation’s first industry-funded homebuyer assistance program, offering eligible hotel employees loans of up to $100,000 to buy a home in the city.

The initiative, backed by hotels such as Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, The Westin Anaheim Resort and JW Marriott, is expected to receive about $3 million annually from fees paid by hotel guests.

The fees will fund homebuyer assistance and emergency housing aid.

Hotel executives hope the program, which includes emergency rental assistance, will become a nationwide model for an industry struggling to recruit and retain workers in expensive housing market.

“We’re pioneers,” Paul Sanford, CEO of Anaheim-based Wincome Hospitality, which owns The Anaheim Hotel and The Westin Anaheim Resort, told the Business Journal.

The Anaheim Tourism Improvement District (ATID) Housing Committee recently met at the Anaheim Convention Center with city officials and other HR and hotel outreach representatives to discuss the program.

“Somebody has to look out for the second-generation immigrant that’s worked hard like we all have and find a way to make a difference in Orange County with the cost of living,” said Sanford, who is also a member of the ATID housing committee.

More than 90 hotels and motels participate in the ATID, though the exact number of eligible workers isn’t known.

A New Use for Tourism Dollars

The initiative marks a departure from how Anaheim’s tourism industry traditionally spends money collected from visitors.ATID collects a 2% assessment on hotel stays in addition to the city’s existing 15% bed tax. The fees generate more than $30 million annually. About one-third goes to marketing and promotions through Visit Anaheim, the city’s destination-marketing organization.

The remainder supports transportation and other tourism-related programs.

Starting this year, 9% of ATID assessment revenue will go toward workforce housing to address one of the industry’s biggest challenges: keeping employees in a region where home prices and rents have soared.

Redfin pegs the median home sale price in Anaheim at about $967,000 and roughly $1.21 million across Orange County, underscoring the affordability challenges facing hospitality workers.

The program has about $1.5 million set aside for the workforce housing program and is expected to bring in about $3 million each year, depending on hotel revenue, city of Anaheim spokesperson Mike Lyster told the Business Journal.

Sanford said he and the ATID housing committee are prioritizing two areas: down-payment assistance and emergency help with rent, utilities and security deposits.

Under the proposed homebuyer program, hotel workers earning up to 120% of Orange County’s area median income — between $116,000 for a single person and $174,600 for a family of four — could get a $100,000 loan to buy a home in Anaheim.

Those earning between 120% and 150% of the area median income, or $116,400 to $207,000 for a family of four, could get up to $50,000 in down payment help.

Hotel owners plan to start outreach in November.

The second ATID initiative would provide eligible workers with up to $5,500 in emergency housing assistance. This could include up to $5,000 for overdue rent and $500 for utilities, or up to $5,000 for a security deposit on housing in Anaheim.

City officials have been developing program requirements, including how long an employee must work at an ATID hotel to qualify. City officials have discussed requirements that could range from 90 days to a year, depending on the benefit.

Lyster clarified one rule — once an employee receives a homebuyer loan and later leaves the hotel for whatever reason, the assistance will not be taken away.

“Once an assistance loan is provided,” Lyster said, “it would not be pulled back or changed.”

Sanford said the program is still under development, but he hopes it can become a model for other hospitality industries and tourism markets.

“We need other communities and other business communities, not just hotels,” Sanford said. “We want to challenge other hotels — New York, Chicago, Vegas — other communities, to follow us.”