For More Information:
Nina Fedele
Socialserve.com
704-625-1724

Raleigh, NC (Marketwire - January 20, 2010) - North Carolina property owners may benefit from a new rental assistance program created by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The recovery act is funding $1.5 billion nationwide for the new Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) to help families affected by the economic downturn. Approximately $22 million is budgeted for distribution in North Carolina, according to Martha Are, who heads up homeless policy for the North Carolina Office of Economic Recovery and Investment.

"This program funds local agencies to help tenants find housing they can live in for the long term, offering up to 18 months of financial assistance for rent," Are says. "The program also provides case management for each renter and access to community resources including housing search and placement, legal services, and credit repair." Service providers will use www.nchousingsearch.org as their primary search tool to locate available rental housing.

North Carolina property owners can register properties online at www.nchousingsearch.org, or by calling toll-free to 877-428-8844. NCHousingSearch.org is completely free and offers several advantages for property owners, including free listing services and property descriptions that include pictures, features, detailed amenities, map links and tools to immediately update and remove property listings when they are rented. NCHousingSearch.org also has a toll-free call center for property owners and renters without Internet access, and a trained bilingual call center staff supporting owners and renters in English and Spanish.

Socialserve.com, a national non-profit organization, manages www.nchousingsearch.org. Based in Charlotte, Socialserve.com provides housing locator services in 27 states, supporting more than half of the U.S. population.