Program Manager: Tracy Lehto

Housing Connections Overview

Housing Connections is an innovative housing locator service connecting people with affordable, accessible and special needs housing in the Portland Metropolitan Area. Housing Connections was developed to make it easier for low to moderate-income people to find housing they can afford, in the neighborhoods they want to live in, with the features they prefer. Housing Connections includes listings of available private market and subsidized housing located in Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, and Clark Counties.

Housing Connections went online in May 2002 and the site has undergone refinements since then based on user feedback. Housing Connections was created by staff at the Portland Housing Bureau and the City’s Bureau of Technology Services (BTS), with input from property managers, renters, and agencies that help people find housing.

Currently the site gets an average of 3,500 searches per week, and the database contains more than 52,000 units represented by 1,300 landlord/property management companies. Housing Connections is also a free service for all users.

Program Vision and Goals

Our vision is to use technology to better connect providers of housing and housing services to renters who are looking for these types of housing opportunities. The program’s goal is to provide a central location for up-to-date housing information with user-friendly tools for low-income renters and agencies that assist them in finding housing. To achieve this goal, the site is designed for property managers and landlords to easily list their properties in the system and for renters to customize a search to meet their specific housing needs .

The site allows renters to search for available units using a checklist of features, including the rent, number of bedrooms, pets allowed, accessibility to people with disabilities, Section 8 vouchers accepted, and proximity to schools, jobs, and mass transit. Searches pull up detailed unit information including maps and photos so that renters can find rental units that fit their needs, as well as affordable homeownership opportunities.

Major Partners

Funders

Housing Connections has been funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce Technical Opportunities Program (TOP), the Regional Affordable Housing Managers using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Economic Development Initiative funds, HUD Community Development Block Grant and HOME funds, and the Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission.

Community Partners

Housing Connections serves Portland Metropolitan Area including Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas Counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington. The following local governmental jurisdictions and organizations provide support in promoting and operating Housing Connections:

• 211info
• The City of Beaverton *
• The City of Gresham *
• The City of Portland *
• The Clark County Department of Community Services *
• The Housing Authority of Clackamas County
• The Housing Authority of Portland
• Multnomah County
• One Economy
• Oregon Helps
• The Vancouver Housing Authority
• The Washington County Department of Housing Services

Agencies with "*" have provided funding in addition to in-kind support.

Looking for housing or housing services?

To search for affordable housing, go to www.housingconnections.org. It is a free service. To start your search, click on "search for housing" on the home page. For more information about housing services and agencies in the four-county region, go to http://www.housingconnections.org/OtherResources.cfm.

Renters and Agency Staff may call 503-802-8562 to have a trained specialist conduct a search for housing over the telephone. Referrals to other housing and community services can also be provided. Landlords may call 503-823-4141 to have their property or properties listed over the telephone if they do not have a computer or prefer to do it over the phone, or they may call with technical questions about using the site.

Telephone assistance is provided by staff of 211info, a nonprofit information and referral agency serving the Portland Metro Area. 211info works in partnership with BHCD to staff the operations of Housing Connections.

Does your community need Housing Connections?

If you are interested in launching Housing Connections in your community, the City of Portland Bureau of Housing and Development (BHCD) has entered into a new partnership with Bowman Systems to market and license Housing Connections around the country. The Housing Connections web-based application is being marketed nationwide under the name HOUSINGpoint™.

Bowman Systems is marketing the HOUSINGpoint to other communities throughout the country so that they can benefit from the service Housing Connections provides without spending the time and resources to develop a similar web site. The City of Portland will earn a percentage of revenue from each sale of HOUSINGpoint. The city hopes this partnership will generate enough return that the public funds now used to support the local operations of Housing Connections can be redirected to other low-income housing initiatives.

Bowman Systems ( www.bowmansystems.com) sells other software that is complementary to Housing Connections including a community human services database called COMMUNITYpoint™ and a social service client-tracking system called SERVICEpoint™. Bowman has established relationships in 40 different states and 175 jurisdictions, giving it a solid customer base for marketing Housing Connections. If you want more information about acquiring HOUSINGpoint for your community, please contact Gene Doeker at 1-888-580-3831 x134 or gdoeker@bowmansystems.com

For more information about the City of Portland’s partnership with Bowman Systems, click here .