DEPARTMENT:
Neighborhood and Housing Services Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD:
Verónica R. Soto, AICP, Neighborhood and Housing Services Department Director
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED:
Citywide
SUMMARY:
Briefing by Rise Civic Consulting on the Housing Base, Affordable Housing Portal.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
San Antonio’s Housing Policy Framework (HPF) recommended the City create an online portal that would serve as a one-stop housing resource center. In December 2018, NHSD submitted an application to the City’s CivTech residency program. The Office of Innovation (OI) and Information Technology Services Department (ITSD) lead the program which pairs tech start-ups with City departments in need of technology solutions. Departments and start-ups are both selected through a competitive process. Once matched with a department, the resident has 16 weeks to create a proposed solution which the department can choose to acquire following the residency. Rise Civic Consulting’s residency concluded with a demo day event on September 17th.
ISSUE:
Rise Civic Consulting has developed a prototype online housing portal called Housing Base. This tool aims to connect San Antonio residents seeking affordable housing with housing providers who offer it. Housing Base will give users the ability to search for housing that is within their budget, located in a neighborhood they’d like to live in with the amenities they desire. A user can also perform a search for housing to accommodate other factors in their life, such as a use of a housing voucher, or barriers like a previous eviction or criminal record.
Housing Base also aims to give housing providers the ability to update and post information about their properties. Housing navigators and caseworkers will be able to create profiles and perform searches on their client’s behalf
ALTERNATIVES:
This item is for briefing purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact at this time.
RECOMMENDATION:
This item is for briefing purposes only.