Housing Hub Project: Launch Night

Please join us in the main sanctuary of The Haven as we launch our new project!

Housing navigation is the process of helping people with limited incomes find places to live they can afford, possibly with the help of a housing voucher. Navigation also includes helping people with complex backgrounds find places that will accept them as tenants.

It is often difficult to find information about aspects of the landlord’s tenant screening process. For example, does the landlord accept vouchers? Does the landlord have a minimum income requirement for all tenants? Does the landlord work with tenants who have imperfect credit or rental records? What is their policy regarding accepting tenants with criminal backgrounds? All of these factors can present significant, and often hidden, barriers to people trying to find housing.

Many agencies and organizations in Charlottesville perform the work of navigation. This process is slow, however, because of a lack of reliable information regarding the complete list of available rentals and the various screening processes used by landlords.

The goal of this project is to develop software for the internal use of credentialed housing navigators that provides navigators with an up-to-date and comprehensive list of the available rentals in the Charlottesville area, along with the various screening policies employed by landlords.

This launch event will feature a talk by Todd Niemeier with the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights on the challenge of housing navigation in Charlottesville and the different agencies that do this important work. Then Code for Charlottesville's leadership team for this project will discuss the technical side of the project, including the tasks we need to accomplish and how we will organize this work.

We will follow-up this event with five hack nights (separate Meetup events coming soon):

Hack night #1: Tuesday, March 10, 6-9pm, location Center for Civic Innovation (117 4th St NE, Suite B, above the Pie Chest)

Hack night #2: Tuesday, March 17, 6-9pm, location UVA School of Data Science (3 Elliewood Ave, second floor above the Ragged Mountain Running Shop)

Hack night #3: Tuesday, March 24, 6-9pm, location Center for Civic Innovation (117 4th St NE, Suite B, above the Pie Chest)

Hack night #4: Tuesday, March 31, 6-9pm, location UVA School of Data Science (3 Elliewood Ave, second floor above the Ragged Mountain Running Shop)

Hack night #5: Tuesday, April 7, 6-9pm, location Center for Civic Innovation (117 4th St NE, Suite B, above the Pie Chest)