HomeScreen Seeks Landlords for ARCH by HomeScreen as Program Surpasses Growth Expectations with Non-Profit Clients
One year ago Tower Grove Neighborhoods CDC launched ARCH by HomeScreen: At-risk Renters' Connection to Housing, a web-based apartment listing service for nonprofit organizations seeking housing for the clients they serve. ARCH, a part of the only nonprofit tenant solution, HomeScreen, was created in response to Covid-19 and the economic effects the pandemic proved to have on low-income renters.
As Chris Brannaman, Housing Liaison from Independence Center, stated, “St. Louis is having an affordable housing crisis. With the prices going up on basic necessities while income stays the same, lower-income residents are barely able to survive; they deserve to have the basic right of housing without so many barriers.”
Since May 2021, we have onboarded 202 nonprofit employees like Chris from 56 local nonprofit organizations. Our goal for 2022 was to have 200 users, and meeting that goal over six months early highlights the extreme need in the community for a tool like ARCH.
Diana Camren at St. Martha’s Hall is an ARCH User who works with domestic violence victims, many of whom have evictions in their past. One particular client of Diana’s has secured and maintained good employment while working with St. Martha’s Hall, so she can afford to pay an additional deposit. However, she is currently struggling to locate housing close to public transportation so she can continue to get to work with a landlord who will accept her application with a past eviction.
Diana’s client and all ARCH applicants will have financial and/or behavioral support from one of our nonprofit partners to help them be successful during their lease. Many of the pieces are in place, but locating and securing safe, stable housing is sometimes the most difficult part of the puzzle. ARCH helps nonprofit users quickly identify suitable units that their unique clients' needs, but the competition is high and we need more landlords with rental units on the ARCH platform.
Landlords and property managers of all sizes can list their available rental units on the ARCH website for free. Through HomeScreen, ARCH applicants are still screened prior to move-in, while still giving the landlord the ultimate decision-making ability. As one ARCH Landlord, Kathryn Heitzenroeder states, “ARCH by HomeScreen takes work off of my plate, a neighborhood organization that has an invested interest in both the tenant and the landlord.”
In America, one in every 14 people experiences homelessness in their life. ARCH landlords know they are helping someone at-risk of homelessness in our community establish the basic need of housing so they can move forward in accomplishing their other goals.
If you would like to learn more about how to get involved,
please contact Ella Gross at ella@myhomescreen.org