“I love my tenants!” - Ana Vazquez
Our community is currently facing housing hardships that are often obscured by the glitter of the city lights, but there is a silver lining for landlords who want to do good in the community while running a solid, healthy business.
Homeless Trust housing navigator, Chapman Partnership’s Maritza Luna, has been a housing navigator in Miami for 7 years, and she has interfaced with dozens and dozens of landlords. In her experience, here are program benefits she says landlords love...
- “We offer two months of security deposits.”
- “Our rent payments are consistent, and payments are always made on time.”
- “If landlords need assistance, we offer follow-up case management, which helps to close the communication gap between landlords and renters.”
But the proof is in the pudding! So the Homeless Trust sat down with one of Camillus House's "go-to" landlords, Ana Vazquez, to learn more about the program from a landlord's perspective. Ana has been an active landlord with Homeless Trust providers for the past five years; she currently rents seven units to our clients.
"It is something that I have always felt good about, helping others; I have always been helping the homeless. To me, it is a natural thing. Due to my own experiences, when I was a very young child, my mom had a lot of kids, and nobody would rent to us. So it was an experience back then and a fulfillment to helping others now."
Everyone can hit a bad time; it is not an exclusive club. It can happen to anyone, explained Ana. But, we wondered, did Ana's experiences influence her business perspective?
“I have super experiences; as far as having everything and going back to zero, I almost losing everything. It can happen to anybody by getting ill, losing their job, it can just happen. I think that persons that have units accessible should commit them to those persons first.”
We asked Ana the burning question on everyone's mind, was it a challenging process to get started as a landlord working with the program?
"It is not as challenging (as people think) when you have caseworkers and people joined together like in Camillus House. They walk you through the process, so it is not difficult."
What message do you have for other landlords?
"I would encourage them to look at the positive side of renting these units to persons that are really in need. The overall feeling is a great one…
If you go through the caseworkers, you have no problem whatsoever. I have had wonderful experiences; as a matter of fact, I love my tenants.
Don't be afraid. As I said, people just don't know, and then when you don't know, you will expect the worst of what you see out there- it doesn't work that way."
If you are a landlord and are interested in learning more about the program, contact Paul Imbrone at 305-349-RENT and find out how you can get started today!