Would you discount rent for the less fortunate?

[Joel W.]

Hello All, Just sat in on a presentation given by a lady that runs a non profit that sets up homeless veterans with a myriad of resources to help get them off the street. One thing that struck me was the request for "landlords to lower their rent" and "give them a shot". She explained this as, the homeless veteran pool does not commonly meet most landlord's tenant standards (credit, income of 3x rent, and no felonies), and here in Seattle the rent is so high that the HUD VASH (section 8 for veterans vouchers) does not come close to the cost to rent. What is your take?

As an Acitve Duty Sailor and businessman, I cringed as I couldn't help but think I would love to help. But at what risk can I help a veteran when I have to pay my own bills.

[Bill Thompson]

Hi Joel,

This is a quick story about one of my experiences.  I had just began to market a beautiful, newly renovated 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment and my first applicant was a women living in a homeless shelter.  She noted on her application that she had been evicted from her last apartment.  I explained to her that the I have a standard process for qualifying tenants and that her eviction would automatically disqualify her.  She then asked for 5 minutes to explain.  She proceeded to tell me she recently got divorced and her former husband skipped town and provides no support for their three young children and that she got stuck with all of their joint financial obligations.  And that she works and makes decent money but could not stay afloat even after cutting spending to bare necessities.  Because of her income she could not qualify for any public assistance unless she became homeless.  In order to become homeless she had to get evicted.  After being evicted she was moved to a homeless shelter and was then able to qualify for temporary housing assistance payments.  The homeless shelter was a bad environment for her kids.  They immediately started doing bad in school.  The lady basically begged me to GIVE HER A SHOT.

After hearing hear story, I wanted to help.  I gave her former landlord a call.  What I heard shocked me... he corroborated her story about the circumstances of her eviction.  More importantly, he said she paid him back every cent he was owed while living in the homeless shelter.  Long story, short... I took a chance on her and she turned out to be one of my best tenants ever - she paid rent on time, kept the apartment in immaculate condition, decorated tastefully on holidays, and went above and beyond to maintain common areas.  I did end up reducing the rent I usually charge to make the numbers work for her, but that was ok with me because I was still making a reasonable profit on the unit and was doing a good deed.  It warmed my heart to watch her put her life back together and get to a point where she no longer needed public assistance.  She was on the waiting list for a very nice mixed-income housing development so when her number came up (after 2 years of waiting) she moved.  I would like to think I played a small role in stabilizing the lady's family situation by providing clean, safe housing at a price that was affordable to her when her options were limited.  The moral of the story is listen to your head, but also listen to your heart, and then do what feels right.  If the numbers work for you, taking a chance on the right person, particularly a Veteran, may provide something more rewarding than money... the opportunity to make a difference in someone's life.

Bill