Contact: Cecka Rose Green

Tallahassee, FL (March 12, 2009) – Florida Housing Finance Corporation (Florida Housing) today announced its newly expanded free, web-based rental housing locator service – www.FloridaHousingSearch.org. This Web site links people with affordable and available rental housing throughout Florida. FloridaHousingSearch.org allows landlords, including providers of critically needed supportive and special needs housing, to advertise their properties FREE of charge, while helping renters to easily find property that fits their needs. Through a partnership with the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, FloridaHousingSearch.org also includes a separate search engine for locating assisted-living facilities and adult family-care homes.

This expanded housing locator service will allow landlords of all private and publicly funded properties statewide to list rental units that are affordable for households that earn up to 120 percent of their area’s average median income (AMI). Currently, FloridaHousingSearch.org has more than 100,000 affordable rental units registered, of which approximately 10,000 units are listed as available.

“Through this expanded locator Web site, information on Florida’s rental units can now be kept in one place, with searchable criteria to make finding available and affordable rental housing easier than ever before,” said Steve Auger, executive director of Florida Housing. “With the support of state agencies, local governments and community stakeholders, we have a goal of registering at least another 100,000 units by this time next year.”

Each month, nearly 90,000 searches are conducted through FloridaHousingSearch.org and more than 5,000 calls are handled by the locator’s toll-free call-center.

“We want the locator to serve as an invaluable tool for families, elderly persons or households with special needs that are searching for affordable rental housing in their communities,” Auger said. “The expansion of this service is particularly important during these tough economic times, but also in planning ahead to serve displaced persons during other crises, such as natural disasters. We encourage all property owners to input their affordable rental units to help make this site as useful as possible.”

FloridaHousingSearch.org was developed and is managed by Socialserve.com®, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit company dedicated to serving the affordable housing needs of communities.

The public can search FloridaHousingSearch.org (in English or Spanish) for available properties and rental units 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or by calling the toll-free, bilingual search support call center at 1-(877) 428-8844, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (EST).

Search and result features include the following:

•    City, county, street address and/or zip code;
•    Number of bedrooms;
•    Telephone number for leasing agent;
•    Rent amount;
•    Section 8 acceptance;
•    Proximity to public transit;
•    Utilities included;
•    Target populations, such as the elderly and persons with disabilities;
•    Specific accessibility features; and
•    Map links and pictures.

For more information on FloridaHousingSearch.org, please visit www.floridahousingsearch.org/. You may also call Socialserve.com at 1-(877) 428-8844.

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The Florida Housing Finance Corporation (Florida Housing) was created by the Florida Legislature more than 20 years ago to help our fellow Floridians obtain safe, decent affordable housing that might otherwise be unavailable to them. Florida Housing's Board of Directors and staff are continuing to work to increase affordable housing opportunities for Floridians, ensure that Florida Housing's programs are well matched to the housing needs of Floridians, and communicate the importance of affordable housing to Florida's communities. For more information about the Florida Housing, visit www.floridahousing.org.