Many working people these days would love to buy a home. But they simply don't have $10,000-$20,000 in their bank account to afford the down-payment on a home. Without down payment assistance, these people are out of luck.
It's been reported recently in the news that there are lots of very big companies right now that have tons of cash in their coffers.
As a perk, some companies might offer to help deserving employees with the down-payment. In exchange, the company gets a tiny piece of the equity.
Currently, a company could 'gift' the money to an employee, but a company is NOT allowed to take equity, per Fannie Mae guidelines. If companies were allowed to take some equity, more companies might consider this, more people would be buying homes helping real estate and economy recover.