A Win, Win

By Tylynn Washington, Immediate Housing Case Manager

Community LINC’s Landlord Locator builds a strong inventory of available housing options for Community LINC’s families.  Major responsibilities include housing location and fostering working relationships with landlords.  Working closely with the Housing Specialist, we develop and implement strategies for retaining these housing options and communicate landlord’s issues, concerns, and conflicts to staff and families, to ensure a family can secure and retain permanent housing.

What is Rapid Re-housing?

• Rapid re-housing serves individuals and families experiencing homelessness who need time-limited assistance in order to get and keep housing.
•  It reduces the length of time people experience homelessness, minimizes the impact of homelessness on their lives, and facilitates their access to resources in the community.
• Rapid re-housing programs often use a relatively light-touch approach to financial assistance and supportive services, seeking to provide just enough assistance to help families get back into housing, while being available to offer additional support or connections to other resources and programs if more help is needed.

  Even so, data indicate that 90 percent of households served by Rapid Re-housing are successfully housed and do not return to shelter. This approach allows communities to assist more households with the same resources.

Working With Landlords in Rapid Re-housing

How do landlords think?

Rental housing is a dollars and cents business.  Landlords and management companies are in the business of reducing risk and maximizing return on investments.  Rapid Re-housing providers need to adopt a business-oriented or market-driven approach to recruiting and engaging property owners and management companies.  In many ways, I am “selling a product” in the open market.  I have to convince property owners that our “product” will meet their needs and address their concerns.

Marketing the program

Marketing is one of the best tools to use in developing a pool of landlords and management companies who are willing to rent directly to our families. Another good tool is giving the landlord a list of commitments that will inspire them to partner with Community LINC as we work to make our mission a reality. Like…..

• Rental Assistance
• Rental Conflict Advocacy
• Quarterly Housing Partner Luncheons (people love to eat J)

 Keeping landlords happy

At the end of the day, one of my main concerns as a Landlord Locator is to maintain good relationships. Keeping the lines of communication open by following up with property owners and agents, keeping our commitments, putting what I was taught as a Realtor to use and operating with integrity and honesty is what I try to do for each landlord.

These partnerships pay off for the landlords and for our families. Landlords have the confidence in their leases with Community LINC families, and our families have housing options they otherwise would not. If you or someone you know might be interested in becoming a landlord partner with Community LINC, contact me at twashington@communitylinc.org or 816.389.8252.