Helping After Harvey

Yardi commits $1 million to recovery, launches housing website

By Leah Etling on Sep 11, 2017 in Giving, News

On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in southeast Texas. The devastating tropical storm dumped more than 50 inches of rain and killed more than 50 people during its four-day rampage.

Due to flooding caused by the hurricane, more than 30,000 people were displaced from their homes in Texas and Louisiana. The evacuees staying in shelters or with friends and relatives included many renters. Yardi software helps manage a significant percentage of the Houston multifamily housing market.

Yardi committed $1 million to support nonprofit organizations in the rebuilding of the areas affected by the hurricane, and will match employee donations to the hurricane relief fund. But there was also an opportunity to assist those in need of temporary or permanent housing due to floodwater damage.

“The state of Texas is about to undergo one of the largest recovery-housing missions that the nation has ever seen,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said at a news conference Monday. “It’s a long process. Housing is going to be very frustrating in Texas.”

Following in the footsteps of an effort to create a housing clearinghouse for Canadians who lost their homes in the May 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, our RentCafe development team sprang into action.

Using the RentCafe property marketing and leasing platform, they quickly built a housing website that will help displaced residents find temporary and permanent homes.

The website (RentCafe.com/HurricaneHarvey) allows housing providers to post available units and for displaced residents to search for housing.  Housing providers can visit the site to list properties at no charge.

“We had experience with this kind of rush site build from our work on a housing registry website for the fire victims in Canada last spring,” said Chris Ulep, vice president of multifamily development at Yardi. “A collaborative effort got the website ready in just a couple of days. We hope that hurricane evacuees will find it useful as they search for new homes.”

Yardi has also launched a hotline that evacuees looking for housing can call for housing assistance. The toll-free number is (844) 363-6317.

Additionally, Yardi is offering disaster response assistance for clients on the RENTCafé platform, including nudge messaging, voice messaging and call automation to help clients communicate with their residents during the aftermath. Yardi representatives are reaching out to clients in the affected area to explain and offer these and other services at no charge.

“We have many valued clients in the affected area, and it is important to us to assist those clients as well as their residents who may have been displaced. Thousands of people have lost their housing due to this devastating natural disaster, and we want to help in any way we can,” said Anant Yardi, president and founder of Yardi.

The efforts to help were appreciated by those in the affected area.

“Our industry is committed to housing and providing needed services like online housing portals and other resources to assist those in need.  We applaud the efforts of our supplier partners to assist those impacted by the hurricane,” said Chris Newton, executive vice president of the Texas Apartment Association.

Additional resources for Yardi clients in the region include:

• The Texas Apartment Association has links to relevant documents and policies that may affect Houston property owners and managers.
• Policies for tax credit properties during federally declared disasters.
• An Emergency and Disaster Library from the National Apartment Association, with Hurricane Harvey content.

For those who would like to help or support agencies working on the recovery effort in Texas, there are many ways to do so. A few resources include:

Relief organizations assisting with evacuee support:

• Red Cross: donate online or by text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief.
• The United Way
• Salvation Army – Text STORM to 51555
• GlobalGiving Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund
• Greater Houston Community Foundation – Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund
• The Way Home
• Portlight
• Charity Navigator compiled a larger list of local relief organizations

Donate and volunteer with Foodbanks and hunger relief organizations:

• Galveston County Food Bank
• Houston Food Bank – Text DisasterVol to 51555 to receive notifications of Houston Food Bank volunteer needs
• San Antonio Food Bank
• Food Bank of Corpus Christi
• Southeast Texas Food Bank
• Food Bank of the Golden Crescent
• Feeding America
• Feeding Texas

Donate blood and medical supplies:

• South Texas Blood and Tissue Center
• Carter BloodCare
• Find a blood drive near you
• Remote Area Medical needs medically trained volunteers for mobile efforts

Animal care and recovery:

• The Humane Society of the United States Disaster Relief Fund
• SPCA of Texas
• Houston SPCA Disaster Relief Efforts – donate online, purchase Amazon wishlist items for Houston SPCA and Wildlife Center of Texas.
• TWRC Wildlife Center
• Austin Pets Alive! Needs supplies, donations and volunteers

If you are a Yardi client affected by Hurricane Harvey, we encourage you to share your story with us. Reach out to [email protected] to share how you helped your residents deal with this unprecedented natural disaster.