AUSTIN (KXAN) — The city of Austin is partnering with a nonprofit that helps connect people with significant housing barriers to vacant rental units, according to a release.
Housing Connector uses “Zillow-powered technology to remove barriers to housing and match people with vacant units,” the release said. So far, roughly 2,000 units are already on that platform, according to Austin’s Homeless Strategy Officer, David Gray.
“These are clients who are moving in with some form of income to pay their rent or they’re tied to an organization that has income to help pay their rent. The city also has money that we’ve given Housing Connector to stabilize folks once they get housed as well to pay for things like repairs to units that might get damaged,” Gray explained.
The city of Austin and Housing Connector are asking property owners/landlords, or local outreach groups working with people facing housing instability, to reach out to them to learn more about the process. You can find property benefits here and frequently asked questions here.
Housing Connector launched in Seattle in 2019. It has since expanded to Denver, Portland, Dallas and now Austin according to Shayna Dunitz, managing director in Austin for Housing Connector.
Housing Connector has so far helped 9,000 people get into a unit, Dunitz said. The nonprofit tracks success on a one and two year “graduation rate”, meaning the client successfully stays in their unit for 12 or 24 months.
“I believe right now our one year graduation rate across all of our markets sits around 90% and our two year is around 80%,” Dunitz said.
How does it work?
Think Zillow with additional help for people facing significant barriers to housing. In fact, the housing search tool is powered by Zillow, according to the release.
“If someone is facing housing instability, they will go to one of our community partners — and so Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center was our first community partner here in Austin — so you go to Sunrise, you say, ‘hey, I make this much money. I have this voucher. I’m looking for rent. However, I always have challenges in the private market because I have been evicted before,'” Dunitz said.
A case manager will then take that information and create a renter profile on Housing Connector, Dunitz explained. The process from there looks much like using Zillow. You’ll plug in number of bedrooms, rent, location, etc. and then apply to applicable properties.
“A Housing Connector letter of support is generated and so the individual takes that with their housing application and that basically says, ‘hey, this person’s a Housing Connector client. You’re gonna screen them with that reduced screening criteria we agreed upon,” Dunitz said.
But Housing Connector doesn’t just help get people into those units, it also works with those clients to ensure success once they get there. Housing Connector staff will stay in touch with the property, community partner involved (like Sunrise) and renter to ensure rent is being paid and the client is being a good neighbor to others in the community, Dunitz said.
“Housing Connector’s belief is that no unit should sit vacant while there are folks in need of homes and we have a lot of folks in need of homes here in Austin,” she said.
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