KANSAS CITY, MO -- Individuals and families seeking rental housing in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area now have easy Internet access to a comprehensive, one-stop source of local rental housing information. Mayors Kay Barnes and Ron Stewart joined Fannie Mae, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC), the Missouri Housing Development Commission (MHDC) and other housing advocates at the Library Lofts, 10th & Baltimore, this morning to announce the launch of Socialserve.com, a nonprofit, Web-based service offering rental property listings from throughout Kansas City and surrounding areas.
People seeking rental housing and property providers wishing to advertise their properties for free may access the non-profit service through any Internet-enabled computer by entering the Web address, www.socialserve.com, and selecting the appropriate link. By entering a desired rent range, number of bedrooms and requirements for community amenities, such as access to public transportation, home-hunters receive a current listing of available rental properties that meet their criteria. Users may browse property listings and photos, view rental rates and fees, and much more through this comprehensive service. Some of the properties accept Section 8 vouchers and are identified accordingly. The site was the first of its kind in the country to include affordable rental housing listings in both English and Spanish.
"A safe place to call home is among our most basic human needs, but so many families don't know where to find it," said Mayor Ron Stewart of Independence, Missouri. "Socialserve.com offers rental property providers, including providers of critically needed affordable and special needs housing, a no-cost place to list their properties. Individuals and families looking for a place to live may access the site on their own computers or a computer at their local public housing authority, library or workplace, and tap into a varied selection of housing that meets their unique needs."
"Socialserve.com was designed to be a one-stop location for renters, housing professionals and social service providers to access housing information upon which families throughout metro Kansas City can depend," said Mayor Kay Barnes of Kansas City, Missouri. "I commend all of the advisory board members and sponsors who contributed their time and financial resources to come together as a public-private partnership and create this site which will allow our city to serve more families more efficiently."
Socialserve.com was initially developed in 1999 as a program of Non-Profit Industries (NPI), a Charlotte, North Carolina-based nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation of affordable software solutions addressing a wide variety of community needs. Within three years, the Charlotte site has grown from 125 listings to 1,700 listings.
"People of all walks of life are searching our site -- from young professionals to single parents and retirees," said Van Gottel, executive director of Socialserve.com. "We're currently receiving an average of 20,000 unique searches per month in Charlotte alone, and I'm confident we'll see similar if not greater success in Kansas City. Today marks the official launch of Socialserve.com in Kansas City, and we expect to see the number of listed properties increase dramatically over the next several weeks."
"It's vital that we ensure the accessibility of mixed-income rental housing for our workforce," said Jim Devine, President and CEO, Lee's Summit Economic Development Council. "A variety of housing choices is critical and the ability of families to secure rental housing quickly and easily is very much at the heart of economic growth in the region."
In addition to its rental housing database, Socialserve.com provides other useful tools and services to Property Providers and those seeking rental properties. Realtors who have properties to rent may access real-time statistics, enabling them to run neighborhood comparables and determine how long their units have been vacant. Renters can figure the approximate cost of moving or how much house they can afford. Many other features will be added to the Kansas City service over the next several months including access to local, regional and national housing data and information and eligibility requirements provided by local and regional service agencies.
"One of the most effective ways to preserve the vitality of the metropolitan area's neighborhoods is to create a clearinghouse of housing information that readily links consumers with housing choices," said Bill Brown, director of Fannie Mae's Kansas City Partnership Office. "This market has a wide array of housing styles, locations and price points that are at the root of the wonderful quality of life for which Kansas City is noted. Fannie Mae is committed to helping communities across this country solve their toughest housing challenges, and we're pleased to assist metropolitan Kansas City in the development of this unique and innovative housing solution."
The Kansas City Web site was funded through a variety of public and private sources, including LISC; MHDC; the housing authorities of Kansas City, Missouri, Leavenworth, Kansas, Independence, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas; the cities of Kansas City, Independence, Leavenworth and Lee's Summit; the Lee's Summit Economic Development Council; Johnson County, Kansas; Fannie Mae; and the Unified Government of Kansas City/Wyandotte County, Kansas. The supporters raised $60,000 for the launch and maintenance of the site for one year.
The local efforts have been guided by the Socialserve.com Advisory Board. The Board includes representatives of the funding entities but also includes the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City, University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), the Applied Urban Research Institute (AURI), the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), Prudential Commercial Realty Resources, Inc., The Yarco Companies, the Heartland Apartment Association, the Kansas City Neighborhood Alliance, Cohen-Esrey Real Estate Services, Inc., Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc, McCormack-Baron & Associates, Inc, Master Realty Properties/Embassy Properties and the Mid-America Assistance Coaltion.
For more information, go to www.socialserve.com; or call toll free: (877) 428-8844.
Fannie Mae is a New York Stock Exchange company and the largest non-bank financial services company in the world. It operates pursuant to a federal charter and is the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages. Fannie Mae is working to shrink the nation's "homeownership gaps" through a $2 trillion "American Dream Commitment" to increase homeownership rates and serve 18 million targeted American families by the end of the decade. Since 1968, Fannie Mae has provided $4 trillion of mortgage financing for more than 45 million families. More information about Fannie Mae can be found on the Internet at http://www.fanniemae.com .
Style Usage: Fannie Mae's Board of Directors has authorized the company to operate as "Fannie Mae," and the company's stock is now listed on the NYSE as "Fannie Mae." In order to facilitate clarity and avoid confusion, news organizations are asked to refer to the company exclusively as "Fannie Mae."
The Missouri Housing Development Commission was established by the 75th General Assembly in 1969. Since that time, MHDC has encouraged and assisted in the production of affordable rental housing and provided homeownership opportunities for thousands of families. It has invested almost $4 billion in Missouri housing, covering every county of the state, for rental housing developments, home mortgages, home improvement loans, loans to landlords for renovations, grants to neighborhood housing groups and other programs. MHDC does not build or renovate housing itself; rather, it functions as a bank, providing financing directly to borrowers or through a network of private lending institutions. Most of MHDC's programs operate as a public-private partnership.
