SMART Landlord Campaign

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

The Palm Beach County Division of Human Services (DHS) kicked off the SMART Landlord program/campaign in June 2016 to address the need for affordable housing for homeless individuals in our community. The campaign aims to educate landlords about the benefits of partnering with the county and other agencies to provide housing. SMART is an acronym which explains these benefits, Support, Marketing, Assistance, Rent and Tenant. The campaign started as a social media initiative targeting landlords on Facebook and Twitter. Organizations throughout our continuum of care participated by sharing our marketing materials on their social media accounts to assist in recruitment. The campaign was featured in the Landlord Collaboration Guidebook sponsored by the State of Florida Department of Economic Opportunity as a case study for other communities. Since the start of this program, we have increased the amount of participating landlords, developed marketing strategies, increased the number of clients in sustained housing, and are continuously adjusting to the rising housing and rental market to best serve the homeless clients in our community.