For people with prior evictions and other blemishes from their past, finding housing can be a nightmare. For some, it’s how they wind up experiencing homelessness, but master leasing offers a second chance. It allows tenants to sub-lease through an organization that is often willing to be more flexible about who they let into their units.
At least, that’s the case for the Bloomington shelter Home Sweet Home Ministries (HSHM), which CEO Matt Burgess said started its own master leasing program around six months ago, giving people who can afford to rent but have some “insurmountable barrier” — prior evictions, poor credit, a felony conviction, etc. — a shot.
For example, Shelli Hart.
“I went through a rough time,” she said. “I lost my job, and I got pounded on rent, and I got evicted from my place.”
That was nearly three years ago. Since then, she’s been in and out of Home Sweet Home. That is, until they asked her to participate in the program.
“At first I was like, ‘Is this real?’” she said about the offer. “And I kept thinking, ‘Oh, I don't know if it's gonna happen.’ And then it just kept happening.”
Hart said the experience and continued support from the shelter has given her a new lease on an apartment, and to some extent, on life.
“They gave me a way to see hope and a better future,” she explained. “That it could be good again, and then I could be a functional adult and happy. And I deserve that happiness.”
The shelter is currently finding participants like Hart through its resident pool, but Community Outreach Director Steve Tassio said they hope to start coordinating with other service providers soon. They're looking forward to the Homeless Management Information System being updated by PATH Inc., so the shelter can effectively connect with the clients most in need.
Funding is coming through grants and donations, which is how the organization largely operates already.
Burgess, the CEO, said the "historically tight housing market" has affected "why we have to do this" master leasing program.
“In a looser housing market, a landlord is going to be more willing to accept a lower credit score, or, you know, maybe take an applicant that doesn't look as great on paper,” he explained. “But because we are so tight, now, landlords don't have to do that. They've got 10 applicants for an apartment, at least, probably, and so why would they roll the dice?”
Growing the program
Given the nature of the program, HSHM is being affected by the crisis itself. Home Sweet Home is currently working with a few area landlords who are willing to let the organization sublease, but finding more will certainly be an issue. The nonprofit must compete with everyone else.
Right now, HSHM is building relationships with current landlords, and finding more to work with the shelter down the line. Burgess said it will likely be years before they develop a robust portfolio of units to master lease.
Burgess added that the shelter is still determining whether the program is feasible. This is the first time it’s done something like this, and staff are keeping in mind that it may not prove successful.
“It's a risk for us organizationally to take this this step,” he said. “It puts our name on the line, it puts our financial resources on the line indefinitely, and that’s a new thing for us to do.”
With this program, there’s also going to need to be flexibility, said the shelter’s Housing Navigator Jacob Phillips. Master leasing is meant to get people back on their feet and ready to rent solo, which means variable lease lengths.
“Each individual client is so different, and their long-term trajectory is so different, and so we want to be able to, I guess, look at that very open-handed,” Phillips said.
Burgess said there’s one person HSHM is working with who thinks he’ll only need a half year or so to get back on his feet. He doesn’t want to get locked into a one-year lease because that would mean more time away from his son, who he’s trying to get back to.
If there was a unit available, Burgess said Home Sweet Home could offer him a six-month lease, and if he’s ready to move out before then, they’d let him.
“Because we'll always have a next person to bring in to serve in that unit,” he explained.
Learning as they go
Home Sweet Home currently has three one-year leases with landlords, something Phillips said he would like to see change in the future as well. He noted the benefits of extending leases to be 2 or 3 years, so HSHM can better meet client needs.
Community Outreach Director Steve Tassio said the shelter has a lot of ideas about how master leasing can turn into permanent housing for participants, which is ultimately the goal. He said it would be ideal for Home Sweet Home clients to take over the leases from the landlords directly, but that would leave Home Sweet Home in a lurch, trying to find another unit to master lease.
“We're still feeling this out, seeing what the benefits are, especially to the landlords, but we want the clients to have the most dignified experience as possible as quickly as possible,” he said.
HSHM staff are also trying to figure out how to help clients build better credit. With the current arrangement, Tassio said that’s not always happening since landlords would have to report on behalf of Home Sweet Home clients.
“We know that to be an issue, and therefore we try to work through other ways to build credit,” he said.
Continued support throughout
Home Sweet Home staff are going to continue working with the clients throughout their time master leasing. Phillips, or someone else, will meet with each client regularly to make sure they’re adjusting to life alone, able to meet rent payments, and are working toward being successful on their own.
Master lease participant Shelli Hart said this has been “one of the best things to happen to me recently,” and added that she’s currently working with Phillips to meet her goals. She said her immediate goal is to get a job, but she’s also excited for the little things, like being able to have people over to her new space.
Hart said she doesn’t want to fall back into depression, and to do all this, she’s going to continue using her HSHM resources. With everything the organization has done for her in the past, she said she’s not too concerned about the future.
“I was terrified when I moved here, and I mean, I get emotional because they literally changed my life,” she said, adding later that anyone who becomes homeless should know “you can bounce back.”
