New, High-Powered Web Site Helps Pennsylvanians Easily Find Affordable Housing That Fits Their Specific Needs

PAHousingSearch.com will be most appreciated when disaster housing is needed

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency and its partnering agencies today announced the launch of PAHousingSearch.com, an online housing search tool that lets Pennsylvanians easily find apartments best suited to their particular housing needs. A small number of homes associated with affordable housing initiatives and foreclosure prevention programs also will be available using the locator service.

The new Web resource at www.PAHousingSearch.com replaces the earlier Pennsylvania Apartment Locator that previously was available on the PHFA Web site. This new Web-based housing locator service is easier for consumers and landlords to use, offers much more functionality, and is backed by a vendor with extensive experience that also provides a call center to help people using the site.

"Anyone looking for affordable housing in Pennsylvania should start by first visiting PAHousingSearch.com," said PHFA executive director and CEO Brian A. Hudson Sr. "Not only is the site easy to use, but a bilingual call center is available to help the state's residents find affordable housing – and to help landlords list their properties. This enhanced housing locator service is a wonderful new resource that lets the state's residents more quickly and easily research their affordable housing options."

PAHousingSearch.com is being funded jointly by PHFA, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. This housing locator service is being managed by Socialserve.com, a not-for-profit that oversees 46 housing locator Web sites in 29 other states.

Features now available through the new housing locator site include basic, advanced and accessible searches to help people find housing best suited to their specific needs. Another tool – a proximity search – helps people find properties within a selected distance from work, school or other family members. The site includes a variety of helpful tools, such as a rental checklist, a rental calculator and a moving calculator. People who need assistance using the site can contact a bilingual call center by phone, mail, fax and e-mail. Best of all, searching for affordable housing is free.

For anyone with special housing needs, such as the elderly or people with physical challenges, PAHousingSearch.com lets them perform an "accessible" search to look for housing that has the features they need to continue living independently.

The site is just as simple for landlords to use for posting available units, and free for them, as well. The site's ease of use by landlords is important so that people who are searching for housing are provided the most accurate data on the variety of housing that is available in their area. Landlords can easily describe their units' amenities, neighborhood features, and distance from places like schools and public transportation. Map links and up to 10 pictures can be posted, helping fully describe available units to potential tenants. The PAHousingSearch.com call center also is available to help landlords list their vacancies.

Another benefit of PAHousingSearch.com is its usefulness after disaster strikes, when housing may be needed quickly by large numbers of people. PEMA's involvement in this initiative was undertaken in large part because of this project's usefulness for listing available housing for disaster victims. The call center connected with PAHousingSearch.com updates the housing listings every two weeks and manages the listing daily. This ensures accurate information anytime shelter is urgently needed for displaced families.

Currently, more than 62,000 housing units have been listed at PAHousingSearch.com, and 1,200 of those units are vacant and available. Nearly 600 landlords have active listings on the site. Additional listings are being added daily.

Most of the listings on PAHousingSearch.com are for available apartments, but a small number of for-sale homes are included. Homes that are available for purchase are limited to those that are a part of an affordable housing initiative, a foreclosure prevention program, or other specific community development or stabilization efforts.  General for-sale housing is not available on this Web site.

About PHFA

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency works to provide affordable homeownership and rental apartment options for older adults, low- and moderate-income families, and people with special housing needs. Through its carefully managed mortgage programs and investments in multifamily housing developments, PHFA also promotes economic development across the state. Since its creation by the legislature in 1972, it has generated $10.1 billion of funding for nearly 144,000 single-family home mortgage loans and 83,000 rental units, while saving the homes of more than 45,600 families from foreclosure. PHFA programs and operations are funded primarily by the sale of securities with the exception of its Homeowners' Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program, which it receives a state appropriation to administer. PHFA is governed by a 14-member board of directors.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency