Austin awarded Seattle nonprofit $2.1 MILLION contract to urge landlords to rent to criminals, evictees

Housing Connector offers financial protections in exchange for reduced screening requirements. Austin’s selection criteria included “experience in cultural competence and racial equity,” alongside administrative capacity, program design, data-informed management, and cost effectiveness. Four organizations submitted proposals.

Officials pitched Housing Connector as a way to fill existing apartments in the Texas city without waiting for construction. They argued that screening barriers kept people homeless while units sat vacant, and that financial guarantees and tenant support would persuade landlords to accept otherwise ineligible applicants.

Austin’s contract recommendation specified a two-year term beginning December 15, 2024, financed through the US Treasury’s American Rescue Plan Act funding. The pandemic-relief law was enacted under President Joe Biden. The agreement targeted 450 new or renewed leases serving nearly 1,000 people.

Housing Connector asks landlords to reduce screening barriers involving credit, debt, income-to-rent ratios, rental history, evictions, and criminal history. Participants need not have every barrier.

Its landlord materials advertise emergency rental assistance, one month of vacancy-loss coverage and up to $5,000 in mitigation. Austin-specific reporting also described damage coverage and three months of unpaid-rent protection. These cover losses rather than provide automatic signing payments.

Landlords upload vacancies to a specialized Zillow Rentals platform that nonprofit providers use to find housing for clients.

Austin’s council approved the agreement 11–0 on November 7, 2024, through a consent-agenda motion by Alison Alter, seconded by Zohaib “Zo” Qadri.

Mayor Kirk Watson and council members Qadri, Natasha Harper-Madison, Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez, Chito Vela, Ryan Alter and Paige Ellis are still on the council.

David Gray, named on the original recommendation, still leads Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations.

The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce said Seattle and King County approached it in 2018 to take over a struggling landlord-engagement program. The Chamber incubated Housing Connector, launched in 2019, and provided operational support through 2024.

Then-Mayor Jenny Durkan and then-King County Executive Dow Constantine unveiled the Zillow-powered tool in February 2020. The technology project emerged from Durkan’s Innovation Advisory Council, working with Seattle’s Office of Housing.

Durkan promoted the partnership by arguing that “the challenges facing our region cannot be addressed by government alone.”

At the October 2019 launch, Constantine said, “Housing Connector serves as a bridge to connect property owners to those in need of housing,” touting support for landlords and tenants.

A 2024 budget amendment sponsored by councilmembers Cathy Moore, Rob Saka and Tanya Woo proposed redirecting $250,000 in JumpStart payroll-tax funds from World Cup preparations to Housing Connector and requested a competitive-process waiver. Saka remains on the council.

Seattle’s adopted 2026 budget requested exploration of Housing Connector integration across city-funded buildings, excluding permanent supportive housing. Sponsors were Councilmembers Sara Nelson, Saka, Mark Solomon, Joy Hollingsworth, Maritza Rivera, Debora Juarez, and Bob Kettle. All except Nelson and Solomon are still on the council.

Wilson appointee Kelli Larsen now heads the Office of Housing, assigned the review.

Founder and CEO Shkëlqim Kelmendi previously worked for the Seattle Housing Authority and Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. His biography lists board service with United Way of King County and the Seattle Chamber, and leadership of the Seattle Human Rights Commission.

Housing Connector says roughly 70 percent of its funding is public. Ballmer Group separately lists $16.2 million in grants covering 2025–2030.

Board members of the program include Zillow’s Samantha Holcomb, Amazon’s Pearl Leung, Puget Sound Regional Council’s Robin Koskey, DRK Foundation’s Oliver Rothschild and Great Expectations’ Ben Maritz. Its funder page displays Microsoft, Amazon, Zillow, BECU, Symetra, United Way and local governments.

The agreement came as small Washington landlords were struggling to remove deadbeat tenants represented by taxpayer-funded attorneys through a separate organization, the Housing Justice Project.

Councilmember Reagan Dunn subsequently proposed restrictions and an audit. His office said King County allocated HJP $16 million for 2023–24 rental assistance, eviction prevention, and legal aid.