Ecopol Project - Portland State University

        

RENT WELL

"Get the Keys, Keep the Keys."

    Permanent housing interventions have increased dramatically in the past 5 years. This is not to say that homelessness is getting better. It is saying that people are coming up with some thoughtful, sustainable, and truly equitable solutions for those in need. What if safety didn't just mean a shelter. 

What if it meant the safety of your own home? 

    This is possible, and the agency that is providing it is expanding! 

    Introducing Rent Well, a program of Transition Projects, based in Portland Oregon. Rent Well is a powerful and life changing course for those with housing struggles and barriers, that focuses on renter education and success. Graduating from this fifteen week course provides people with the confidence, skills, portfolio, step by step assistance and facilitation with finding a place they can call home.  

     This is Karen. She is a transgender women that struggles with mental illness and was homeless for over ten years before she found help through Rent Well. She graduated from the program and has been living in her very own apartment for over 15 months. She has never been happier.

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     Rent Well is not only looking for those seeking housing, but offers a thorough instructor training course to nonprofits, publicly funded agencies, and governmental organizations, with housing focused mission statements. The goal is for Rent Well to be easily accessible, with numerous instructors to provide this life changing program. 

    Rent Well feels so confident in this program, and their graduates, that it offers a Landlord Incentive Fund. This fund acts as insurance and provides the property manager with a financial guarantee beyond the security deposit if something should happen. Since 2009 only 1% of landlords have had to access these funds. Its success has been outstanding, and soon it will be expanding to an online format, so it can be offered to many more who need it. Currently rentwell.org offers the most up to date information for renters, future instructors, and potential landlords. Is Rent Well available in your county? If not, then why? This program has the amazing potential to not only change lives but also communities.