City Joins With JP MorganChase In Landlord Engagement Program

HOUSTON, TX — Citing increased rents and a sharp drop in vacancies after Hurricane Harvey, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has joined with the Houston Housing Authority, Coalition for the Homeless, CSH and the City of Houston to announce a program to curb homeless.

On Wednesday, officials announced the launch of the Landlord Engagement and Assistance Program (LEAP) at a press conference at Houston City Hall.

The Landlord Engagement and Assistance Program is a new initiative designed to boost the availability of affordable rental units by bringing Houston’s landlords together with prospective tenants who are experiencing homelessness.

“Working together, we can provide desperately needed housing for the most vulnerable among us—young people aging out of foster care, the elderly and disabled, homeless veterans and families looking to pull their lives back together after Hurricane Harvey,” said Carolyn Watson, head of philanthropy for JPMorgan Chase in Houston. “Our partnership will do more than address affordable housing. Together, we can change the lives of homeless Houstonians.”

Thanks to a $300,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase, LEAP will fund a full-time staff person to operate as a liaison to landlords on behalf of The Way Home homeless response system and local housing and services providers.

By dedicating staff and offering intensive hands-on support, LEAP will become a one-stop shop for landlord partners, helping them navigate various government agencies and the subsidy process or troubleshooting tenant-related issues.

“LEAP was a good idea and needed even before Harvey,” said Marilyn L. Brown, President/CEO with Coalition for the Homeless (lead agency to The Way Home). “Several years ago, Houston as a community made ending homelessness a priority and set out to design a strategic approach to find landlords willing to rent to those in need, leveraging existing housing stock while planning for new affordable housing to be built. With the help of JPMorgan Chase, we are now able to implement a structured process with goals and measurements for progress.”

Based on data compiled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau, Houston ranks third worst in housing availability for extremely low-income households among all major metro areas in the country.

This situation has been exacerbated by the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey’s unprecedented flooding in August 2017.

Because so many people were displaced and needed housing after the storm, the inventory of available apartment units has drastically decreased causing rents to soar.

“We continue to work with multiple stakeholders to find innovative ways to address Houston’s Affordable Housing Crisis – a crisis exacerbated by Hurricane Harvey, a crisis that disproportionately impacts our most vulnerable Houstonians,” said Tory Gunsolley, President/CEO with the Houston Housing Authority. “The Houston Housing Authority is happy to further The Way Home’s process by hosting the Landlord Liaison position within our organization and providing them with ample resources and opportunity to strengthen partnerships with landlords.”

In addition to the shortage of inventory and higher housing costs, households experiencing homelessness face other barriers including past evictions, poor or no credit, justice-involved records, and discrimination based on race, family composition, housing status, and income source, including the use of rental subsidies.

LEAP aims to not only remove barriers into housing through education and technical assistance to landlords, but by also offering an educational program for The Way Home renters that will help build the skills necessary for successful tenancy.

Through these efforts, LEAP will advance the work to prevent and end homelessness while simultaneously building stronger communities.

“Landlords with existing rental units are the largest suppliers of affordable housing in Houston so this makes them critical partners in helping people quickly exit homelessness and work toward a path of stability,” said Samantha Maggiani with CSH. “Based on our work and experience, we believe successful landlord partnerships must be locally driven, involving ongoing and consistent engagement and education, and that’s exactly what LEAP will do.”

To learn more about property management partnership with The Way Home, visit: http://www.thewayhomehouston.org/take-action/property-managers/.

Image: Morris Malakoff/The CKP Group