FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Daphne Lemelle, Deputy Director
Harris County Community & Economic Development Department
(713) 578-2000

Houston, Texas (May 1, 2007) – A new service offered by Harris County makes accessing information on affordable housing options in the Houston region as easy as clicking a mouse or dialing a phone.

The free service offered by the Harris County Housing Resource Center links property owners with those in need of quality affordable housing. It can be accessed by going to www.hrc.hctx.net and following the Affordable Housing link or by calling 713-578-2055. Operators trained to help callers search the growing database of available properties answer the line Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.

“The real target of this program is our low income population – people who want and deserve quality affordable housing,” said Daphne Lemelle, Deputy Director of the Harris County Community & Economic Development Department (HCCEDD). “We want this program to be a conduit for anyone seeking affordable housing. We want to connect them with property owners who are providing safe and clean living environments. This is also a way for property owners to list what they have to offer at no charge.”

The service already lists more than 32,000 housing units and those accessing the information via the Internet or by phone can search for housing options based on price, location, special needs, amenities and eligibility requirements.

“That gives people searching for affordable housing something they don’t often have – options,” said Lemelle, who added that HCCEDD started the Housing Resource Center in 2004 as an information clearinghouse for people facing housing challenges. The latest service was started on a small scale in the summer of 2006 and was slowly expanded and fine-tuned.

“We wanted to get this right and the Harris County Commissioners Court wanted us to get it right,” Lemelle said. “We all learned how crucial affordable housing options are when we opened our arms to those who were forced from their homes in Louisiana by Hurricane Katrina. But we all know people face these tough decisions every day.”

The new program is paid for by grant funds, as are many of the other services highlighted by the Harris County Housing Resource Center. Other services accessible through the Center and its Web site and phone line include assistance with utility bills, home repairs, transitional housing, emergency shelter, referrals to various social service programs and down payment assistance.

The housing availability program was added with the help of SocialServe.com – a nonprofit North Carolina-based company that has established similar services in 17 states.

By adding the new program to the menu of services already available through the Housing Resource Center, Lemelle said she hopes the program becomes even more popular. There were more than 6 million hits on the Center’s Web site in 2005 and that jumped to more than 7.1 million in 2006.

“That shows there’s a real need for this information,” she said. “Other statistics show that too.”

There are an estimated 1.4 million available housing units in Harris County and only about 82,000 are considered affordable for low income families. The Housing Resource Center has assisted thousands of people since beginning operations and officials expect the new housing database to be just as popular.

“That means there are a lot of people left out there to help, a lot more affordable housing units that can be listed and more people who can use this vital information,” said Lemelle.