The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) has launched the Doorway Housing Portal, a hub to easily find affordable housing in the Bay Area. The first-of-its-kind regional online portal was developed with pro bono support from Google.org Fellows, a team that includes Google researchers, designers, product managers and software engineers.
The need for affordable housing is ever growing, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has estimated that the Bay Area would need 180,000 more affordable homes by 2031 to meet demand. This highlights the significant need to build an efficient platform to connect housing seekers and available units across the region – particularly since many Bay Area households are multi-jurisdictional.
“The launch of the Doorway housing portal is an important step toward relieving the Bay Area’s chronic housing affordability crisis,” said BAHFA Chair and Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza. “The combination of availability and accessibility unlocks more opportunity for more people. We appreciate both the technical know-how Google.org brought to this project and its long-term commitment to helping us meet some of the Bay Area’s other housing challenges. There’s a lot more work we can do together.”
At launch, the Doorway Housing Portal will centralize housing listings across the Bay Area and enable housing seekers to use filters and a map-based interface to search for affordable housing. Individuals will also have access to helpful content to guide them through the process of finding and applying for affordable housing. The portal is accessible via desktop and mobile in five languages: English, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese and Tagalog.
Developers and property managers are encouraged to use the portal to upload their listings, increasing the visibility and reach of the rental units while also helping increase the number of listings for housing seekers.
Google.org announced that it will provide a $2.5 million grant to fund continued management of the portal, as well as in-kind services that will go toward future outreach initiatives.
