Resources to help Katrina survivors find housing

RISMEDIA, Sept. 8, 2005 — Various online resources are now stepping up to help find housing for survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Some of the newer Web sites are collecting and displaying shelter and housing information.

National Association of REALTORS®, Welcome Wagon Partner Welcome Wagon has announced the launch of http://relief.welcomewagon.com. Now, individuals and families in need of temporary or permanent housing may use a single online location to search for available housing in shelters, churches, apartment complexes, single-family homes and senior facilities throughout the Gulf Coast and neighboring communities.

At http://relief.welcomewagon.com, users, including survivors of Hurricane Katrina and their friends and family, as well as relief agencies and other volunteers, can search a comprehensive database of available homes and sort by city/state, number of people and length of stay.

At http://relief.welcomewagon.com, individuals also have the opportunity to post information about open beds, extra rooms, guest houses and other temporary housing that they may have available. E-mail relief@welcomewagon.com if you would like to add your Web site to this free resource.

Apartments.com Adds Itself to the Mix Apartments.com has launched the Hurricane Katrina Resource Center within its site to help the estimated 500,000 to upward of 1 million homeless and displaced citizens in the Southeastern United States.

The Resource Center provides valuable information to help individuals locate rental information or other Hurricane Katrina relief resources quickly and easily. Individuals can access the Apartments.com Hurricane Katrina Resource Center at www.apartments.com/katrina.htm.

The Resource Center includes links to Apartments.com city pages in areas that have been identified as relief cities, including Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida.

Web Designers Launch New Web site to Help Find Emergency Housing

Three young Web designers have launched a new Web site—www.katrinahousing.org—to organize housing offers in one easy-to-find place.

On www.katrinahousing.org, people offering housing provide their zip codes, the number of people they can accommodate, how long space is available, and whether pets, smokers or children are allowed. Refugees can then zero in quickly on the factors that interest them. Like Craig's List, katrinahousing.org is dedicated to helping people connect with one another and does not verify the information posted.

‘Make A Home’ Matches Shelters with Those in Need Thousands of offers of shelter placement are being collected on the Web site of the Houston Association of REALTORS®, as project “Make A Home” accelerates. The partnership on the project is between HAR, KPRC-TV Channel 2, the Houston Area Urban League, the Houston Bar Association and the Houston Young Lawyers Association.

More than 1,250 properties have been donated so far and the numbers are increasing by the hour, with rooms, vacant houses, apartments, mobile homes and a variety of properties being offered for shelter. For more information, visit www.har.com and click on the ‘Make a Home’ icon. The site links are: Apply for Shelter, Donate Shelter, Find Shelter, Short Term Lease and Volunteer Opportunities.