For the past three years, Socialserve.com has provided an affordable housing matching service to landlords and families in Charlotte, and the service is expanding to other parts of North Carolina, to St. Louis, and to the Kansas City area.
(Addendum - Denver, CO being added in 2003)

The nonprofit provider of web-based services was founded by Van Gottel and some friends. Gottel, now chief executive officer of Socialserve.com, is a former case manager for high-risk youth. In this former job he found that many of his clients' problems stemmed from a lack of decent housing to provide a stable living situation.

Socialserve.com started in Charlotte with the help of Fannie Mae sponsorship. Other sponsors include Bank of America and Prudential Carolinas Realty.

The service lists rental properties that have rents up to the Section 8 fair market rent plus 20 percent, which according to Gottel covers about 80 percent of the market. In addition to matching landlords and tenants through its web- based software, Socialserve.com accepts phone calls from families searching for housing and from landlords.

Web Site Applications

Landlords can place their application forms on the web site for applicants to fill out and file electronically. Landlords who use this procedure waive their application fee, which can save $30 or $40 for a family. "That can make the difference in having enough food for the week, bus transportation, or getting a car repaired," said Gottel. "That is a significant savings for many families."
(see Correction #1 following article)

In Charlotte, Socialserve.com lists about 1,750 properties a day in the $300 to $400 rent range. "Our tenants are single moms, all the way through the work force to office workers, nurses, and bank tellers," Gottel said.
(See Correction #2 following article)

In St. Louis, the city and county housing authorities each contributed $10,000 to operate a web-based Section 8 voucher list of landlords for a year, and Fannie Mae has offered to provide some funding for the second year of operation as well. The web matching service has been on line only since February, but Gottel said that properties are being rented almost as quickly as they are listed., moving about 400 rental units.

Gottel said that Socialserve.com can help identify pockets of affordable housing in neighborhoods where low-income families have not previously found housing.

Housing Resource Center

Katrina Knight of the Housing Resource Center, a program of Catholic Charities in St. Louis, said that her group was fortunate to find Socialserve.com because she could have ended up spending months trying to build the same type of web- based system.

"We aren't pretending for a moment that this will solve the affordable housing crisis in our area," said Knight. "But this is a commitment we have made to provide a service that can benefit families while we work to increase affordable housing production. There are families out there who need housing now, not three months or a year from now."

Gottel estimated it would cost a local government more than $1 million to create the data base and Internet presence that his nonprofit already has developed.

The Housing Resource Center is using the service to help low- and moderate- income families find affordable rental housing. Knight said most landlords in her area do not advertise, and the only way many people could find an apartment was to drive through neighborhoods and find "for rent" signs. "It was a frustrating experience," she said.

Landlord List

The St. Louis Housing Authority put its Section 8 landlord list on the web site beginning in February, and Robert Batts, deputy executive director, said he believes that moving from a paper-based list has helped make the program work more efficiently.

Previously, it was difficult to keep the list updated, he said, but now landlords can update their list by accessing the site through the Internet or calling Socialserve.com.

The housing authority also has two computers which are accessible to Section 8 voucher families and a printer so families can print property lists.

Batts said that he recently helped one Section 8 voucher holder look for a rental unit, and they found 60 listings for two-bedroom apartments on Socialserve.com. Batts said the web site provides maps with locations of the available apartments that are especially useful.

(For more information, contact Socialserve.com, 704-334-8722.)

Copyright 2003 West Group.

This article is reprinted with permission from HDR Current Developments, Volume 31, Number CD-8, published April 14, 2003, page 232. For information, call 1-800-723-8077.

CORRECTIONS:

1) The landlord application process is in development and will be launched at the end of 2003
2) Charlotte maintains an average of 1750 properties availabel per day in the $300 - $1800 per month rental range