The Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, an NLIHC state partner, has released the results of a survey concerning landlord attitudes about homelessness assistance programs. The survey sought to determine the extent to which various incentives can persuade landlords to accept housing subsidies and reduce their screening criteria. Results from the survey of 660 landlords show that nearly two-thirds of landlords are willing to work with homelessness assistance programs and negotiate their screening practices if they are given their top choice of incentives. The Housing Alliance hopes that the survey results can be used to expand local landlord engagement strategies that broaden affordable housing opportunities for low-income households that are too often screened out when landlords consider new tenants.
The survey included questions about a dozen different landlord incentives, such as risk mitigation funds, sign-on bonuses, and housing navigator services. The survey also inquired about landlords’ screening practices, as well as the business challenges that might prevent them from participating in homelessness assistance programs. Of the total respondents, 442 were for-profit landlords, 150 were already working with a tenant-based subsidy program, and 56.8% owned 20 units or fewer.
Key findings from the survey include the following:
- Given their top choice of incentive, 58% of landlords are willing to lease to tenants with case management and rental assistance.
- Given their top choice of incentive, 40% of landlords are willing to adjust tenant screening criteria to accept households with additional barriers.
- Over 80% of landlords find risk/damage mitigation funds to be a very beneficial incentive for renting to tenants with multiple barriers to housing served through homelessness assistance programs.
- Seventy percent of landlords find an increased payment standard to be a very beneficial incentive for renting to tenants with multiple barriers to housing served through homelessness assistance programs.
- Over 60% of landlords find an automatic rent increase to be a very beneficial incentive for renting to tenants with multiple barriers to housing served through homelessness assistance programs.
There are various barriers that prevent landlords from renting to people searching for housing through homelessness assistance programs. The survey finds that the barriers that landlords are most willing to overlook include having an income less than three times the cost of rent, having no rental history, or having a low credit score. Landlords are least willing to overlook having a record of a violent crime or sexual offense, having no income, or having a past eviction. These results are consistent with major findings from a past survey of housing locators conducted by Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania.
The Housing Alliance Pennsylvania is using the results of the survey to educate stakeholders on the financial challenges faced by landlords. Their hope is that those with decision-making power will support relevant financial incentive policies for landlords who choose to strengthen their communities by renting to folks through homelessness assistance programs. Housing Alliance Pennsylvania believes that developing a broad array of landlord incentives will lead to more stability among renters who have experienced homelessness, with fewer households interacting with the courts or returning to homelessness.
“We cannot wait for more affordable housing to be built,” said Phyllis Chamberlain, executive director of Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania. “This is a practical strategy of figuring out what we can provide landlords today to encourage them to change their practices to rent to people with housing subsidies they would otherwise screen out. And it’s working… in one community they cut the time it takes low-income households to find a rental unit in half. Another reduced their housing search time by one week. This means one less week that a household is experiencing homelessness. We need more affordable housing, but in the meantime, it works to help landlords to help us help lower income households find an affordable rental unit.”
Find Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania’s Landlord Engagement Resource Library here and the survey results here.