A company that convinces landlords to make their properties available to people experiencing homelessness by offering incentives, such as insurance policies against damage and unpaid rent, has launched in Austin.
Housing Connector, a nonprofit, creates a real-time map of rental homes landlords have agreed to make available to people who have struggled to stay housed. The map is hosted on Zillow and can only be accessed by organizations that work to house people and have agreed to partner with Housing Connector.
In December, Austin City Council members agreed to pay Housing Connector about $2.14 million over two years so it could begin operating in the city. The map of available homes launched earlier this week with about 2,300 rental homes listed, the company said.
Housing Connector is taking a stab at solving an age-old problem in homelessness services: convincing landlords to rent to someone who may have a history of evictions, unpaid rent or mental illness.
“For landlords, it’s always a risky proposition to rent to people coming out of homelessness,” said Mark Hilbelink, executive director of Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center, a nonprofit that helps feed and house people living on the streets. Hiblenik said, historically, the way around this was for landlords to charge larger security deposits or additional fees – essentially, an added tax.
Housing Connector’s model is not entirely different. The company offers incentives to landlords who might otherwise be hesitant to rent their homes to people who have been homeless. Shkëlqim Kelmendi, Housing Connector’s founder, said the company offers to cover up to $5,000 in property damage and three months of rent payments in case the new tenant is suddenly unable to pay.
“In exchange for that insurance, [landlords] agree to reduce or completely eliminate their screening criteria, making homes accessible to people exiting homelessness,” Kelmendi said.
That could mean ignoring past evictions, often a disqualifier for landlords.
“That’s important,” said David Gray, Austin’s homeless strategy officer. “Because some of our landlords won’t accept rental applications for clients who have evictions on their records regardless of that client’s ability to pay or how long ago that eviction was.”
Despite pumping millions of dollars into services for people living on the streets, Austin has struggled to get a handle on homelessness the past couple of years. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of people experiencing homelessness on any given night more than doubled, jumping from 3,024 people to about 6,200.
Hilbelink, whose organization got access to Housing Connector this week, said rising rent prices during the pandemic worsened the problem.
But for the past two years, prices have been falling and more apartments are sitting empty. That has created a window for people like Hilbelink to house people who otherwise are living outside or in their cars.
“Now’s a great time to try and get as many people into housing as possible,” Hilbelink said.
Support for KUT's reporting on housing news comes from the Austin Community Foundation and Viking Fence. Sponsors do not influence KUT's editorial decisions.
