Rainbow Housing Assistance Corporation

At Rainbow Housing Assistance Corporation (Rainbow), our mission is to preserve quality affordable housing by providing enriching supportive services to the residents of multifamily communities. Rainbow operates coast-to-coast and in communities both large and small. For several years, Rainbow has been inserted into Haverstock Hills Apartments in Houston, Texas as the services provider. Haverstock is a 700-unit community located in the northern part of the city and is home to thousands of residents, including several hundred youth.

Decades prior to Rainbow’s engagement, Haverstock was known only for the persistence of criminal activity and gang nuisances. All of that began to change in 2010. Rainbow built a coalition of community partners, residents, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, elected leaders, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to address this issue. With the assistance of the Harris County Attorney General, this coalition ushered in a landmark anti-gang injunction for Haverstock and the surrounding community. This 57-acre safe zone, which also encompassed the neighboring elementary school, was the first ever injunction of its kind for the county and was created with the specific goal of removing the criminal element from that community.

Quickly seen were results of all these parties working together, forever transforming Haverstock into a community that now boasts front porch living and provides a supportive environment for all who call it home. This change has garnered national media attention and the coalition is still working together to ensure that progress is made each and every day.

 

Rainbow’s award-winning services package is structured in such a way that it can be implemented to perform for any population or demographic, preserving quality affordable housing for those who need it most. If looking for a custom approach to educational youth programming, life-skills training for adults, or social activities for seniors – Rainbow has the solution. A Resident Services Coordinator (RSC), in conjunction with property managers, will create an environment that residents cannot afford to leave. The most popular programs include:

• Free afterschool educational programs for youth
• Job readiness and placement
• Computer literacy courses and life-skills training
• Financial resource management
• Community building exercises

RSCs also build coalitions, supplementing programs with expertise from local business leaders, state, and federal compliance groups, medical personnel, charitable organizations, and law enforcement resources. These programs directly correlate to tangible financial benefits, improving the asset’s performance. RSCs internalize features that residents want and need from the asset, encouraging long-term resident retention. Rainbow’s service-enriched housing program affords owners the following benefits:

• Reduced turnover
• Decreased marketing costs
• Increased occupancy rates
• Lower rental losses (bad debt, concessions, legal fees)
• Real return-on-investment