Hope in Our Community: From the Desk of Our CEO
Martin County continues to face a serious housing crisis, especially in the affordable housing category. We are excited to share that House of Hope has launched our Home Sharing Program. We are now actively seeking homeowners and landlords to connect to our program. This is the latest program addition to our HOME (Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone) Initiative. If you are a homeowner and you have an interest in renting a room in your home, we would welcome the opportunity to work with you. If you are a property owner and are seeking qualified tenants to lease a house or apartment to, we would welcome the opportunity to work with you as well. Please visit our website at https://www.hohmartin.org/housing to learn more about the program and to connect with our housing coordinator.
Whether you are seeking a tenant to rent a room, an apartment or a house, we have a pool of qualified applicants to help you fill your space quickly, efficiently and safely. Our clients in the program go through background checks, credit checks, and have their finances reviewed by our Housing Coordinator or a member of our Case Management team to minimize risk and set both the landlord and tenant up for success. Home sharing provides many benefits to the landlord, including:
- Extra income to offset rising expenses connected to homeownership
- Safeguard and potentially increase retirement savings
- Stay in your home and community longer
- Companionship
Home sharing is a simple arrangement where two or more individuals share a home, including private bedrooms and bathrooms, or other living spaces, for their mutual benefit. Unlike standard roommate sharing, our home share program highlights the supportive relationship between homeowners, property owners, and renters in Martin County. Through our matching process, we strive to promote dignified living for all, building a stronger community.
Our thorough match process includes requirements for both home providers and home seekers:
- Background checks
- ​Specific verification requirements
- Credit checks
- One-on-one interviews
- Onboarding workshops
House of Hope believes that safe and stable housing for all residents is a cornerstone of a healthy and vibrant community. We believe in HOME (Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone). In addition to Home Sharing, we address this in several ways: Our financial assistance program works to keep people housed, healthy and safe. We have strong partnerships with local shelters run by other area nonprofits including supplying them with healthy food for their residents. Our Housing Committee and House of Hope leadership are working with local governments, other nonprofits, funders, for profit businesses, and leaders in the land development arena to create process, policy and opportunity to bring more affordable housing inventory to our area. We also now have a full time Housing Coordinator dedicated to developing relationships with local landlords, assisting clients with finding housing to match their budgets, and developing new programs to get and keep people housed safely. We will continue to strive to add more tools to our toolkit to address the critical need for housing in our community. As always, we are grateful for the support of our community and the many ways our neighbors impact our mission to empower residents to overcome hunger and hardship. To learn more about us please visit our website at www.hohmartin.org. Thank you for helping to grow hope in our community.
