Jackie Lukisch works for an agency in St. Louis that helps people who need to find inexpensive shelter quickly. It's a job that is frustrating and time-consuming.

"I can't tell you how much time I and my colleagues spend, driving through neighborhoods looking for 'for rent' signs," said Lukisch, an administrator for Community Alternatives, which helps the homeless and people with mental illness get their lives in order.

As of today, she and her colleagues across the area will spend more time at a keyboard and less behind the wheel. The St. Louis area will be part of a larger electronic database called Socialserve.com accessible on the World Wide Web. It will provide those seeking housing with information about what's available, and property owners with help in finding tenants.

The idea was born in what Katrina Knight, director of Catholic Charities' Housing Resource Center, calls her "parking lot" conversations with Lukisch and counterparts at other agencies.

Working with a group called the Affordable Housing Task Force, Knight and her colleagues proposed starting an electronic database. They looked at various models across the country and found a nonprofit organization based in Charlotte, N.C., called Socialserve.com.

"It encompassed all the things we were looking for plus a million that hadn't occurred to us," Knight said.

Three years old, Socialserve.comexpanded earlier to include an 11-county area around Kansas City. St. Louis will be its third area of operation.

The fee for Socialserve.com to develop and maintain a Web site serving the St. Louis area is $30,000 for the first year. The St. Louis city and county housing authorities are partners in the new services.

After the first year, the fee is expected to drop as more communities join the network.

It will be available here 24 hours a day. People who don't own computers can use those at public libraries, at their work place, in their social worker's office or in various housing agencies where staff members can assist clients in logging on to the Web site. It takes about two minutes to show someone how to search, Knight said.

City and county housing authorities have notified landlords who take Section 8 vouchers - federal housing subsidy payments for [low-income] people - and expect 200 properties to be listed by today. Housing advocates hope many more will follow. Local authorities are not sure how many such properties are available in the area.

In Kansas City, the service has 600 properties listed and is averaging about 1,000 hits a day.

Cheryl Lovell, executive director of the St. Louis Housing Authority, said her agency plans to put a computer in its waiting area. Staff members will help navigate the site if needed.

Neil Molloy, executive director of the Housing Authority of St. Louis County, said he expects the new service will help low-income families, especially those who don't have cars. Plus it's a no-cost service for landlords, he said.

Knight loves the idea of harnessing technology for a social cause.

"In this field, we talk a lot about empowerment," she said. "What can be more empowering for a grandmother who had never touched a computer before to find herself an apartment online?

"I think we've turned on its head the myth that low-income people can't benefit from technology."