A Word About Yardi, RentCafe, and Non-Profit Initiatives

Lending a helping hand at the right time and the right place can make a big difference in someone’s life. As part of the housing sector, Yardi and RentCafe are getting involved whenever there’s an elevated need for housing in the aftermath of natural disasters.

In May 2016 RentCafe, in collaboration with the Government of Alberta, Canada, launched a Centralized Housing Registry website to help residents who escaped the Fort McMurray wildfire find temporary or permanent housing. About 90,000 people were evacuated from their Fort McMurray homes and were in urgent need of housing aid. The online registry had over 100,000 page visits and has helped thousands of people find new homes. Local media has been instrumental in helping spread the word to as many people as possible. Media coverage by The Edmonton Journal, CBC News, Metro News, Global News and others helped make the initiative a tremendous success.

In September 2017 a Hurricane Harvey Housing Registry was created on RentCafe to help the tens of thousands of people whose houses have been flooded and made uninhabitable by Hurricane Harvey find new temporary or permanent housing. About 230 properties with over 5,000 rental units were added to the registry since its inception and the web page has received close to 20,000 visits so far. Houston Chronicle, National Low Income Housing Coalition, Home Business Magazine and Texas Tribune have helped us spread the news and make the process of finding a new place to live a lot easier for so many people in this time of crisis.

Shortly thereafter, in mid-September 2017, the Hurricane Irma Housing Registry was launched in response to the devastation created by Hurricane Irma in the state of Florida. This initiative along with the Harvey Housing Registry are still active. We encourage you to join in the effort by sharing with others the link (https://www.rentcafe.com/hurricaneirma) to the Irma housing registry.

The RentCafe Housing Registries allow property managers and landlords to list their available units, along with any special concessions they may offer, without paying a fee. Prospective renters can search the registry also free of charge, as they would otherwise on the RentCafe website.

Yardi Systems, Inc., a software provider for the real estate investment management and property management industry, through its various divisions and products, maintains valuable client relationships with property managers, real estate owners, and investors, all the meanwhile proudly serving real estate consumers. As part of its core values and beliefs, the privately-held company encourages and participates in activities that support disaster relief efforts, by putting to good use its software expertise to help those in crisis.

RentCafe, a division of Yardi, is an apartment search website with listings in the United States and Canada. The online rental portal sets itself apart from other similar websites by providing only 100% verified listings directly from property managers and landlords. This unique feature allows RentCafe to offer a reliable and secure medium to safely connect those looking for temporary or permanent housing to local property owners offering available rentals. RentCafe also led the marketing efforts to spread the word about their ongoing relief programs through media outreach, social media, and email campaigns.