Leading reverse mortgage lender American Advisors Group (AAG) has announced a partnership with Orange County United Way in California in what is described as a “multi-tiered” alliance focused on providing long-term supportive housing to homeless seniors and veterans. This is being done through a program called “WelcomeHomeOC,” a part of United Way’s United to End Homelessness initiative which aims to provide homeless individuals with rental vouchers to secure housing in private market apartments.
In the partnership, AAG will provide financial support for United Way’s efforts as well as engage its employees to help achieve United Way’s goal of what it calls “functional zero,” in which episodes of homelessness are made rare.
AAG has started a hashtag social media campaign, “#ProjectInspire,” enlisting the aid of volunteers to help recently-housed individuals and families settle into homes with gift baskets. AAG executives will aim to facilitate an increase in the number of housing units available to the program by leveraging network contacts in the hope of recruiting new property owners to participate in the program’s mission.
“By partnering with United Way, we believe we can help provide much-needed housing solutions to those seniors and veterans who are experiencing homelessness, which will have a real and lasting positive impact on our community,” said Reza Jahangiri, founder and CEO of AAG.
The position AAG occupies in its local community and in its relationship to housing in general gives the company a unique position to assist the WelcomeHomeOC program and its focus on seniors, according to Orange County United Way President and CEO Susan B. Parks.
“With AAG’s help, we can further expand our property owners’ network and provide the types of support services that our program participants need to ensure that they remain in their new homes,” she said.
The WelcomeHomeOC program began two years ago in order to provide permanent housing with supportive services quickly, in order to provide a stable foundation for people who need it. Its place as a landlord incentive and housing navigation program has allowed it to assist over 400 people in finding a home, 100 of which occurred in the first quarter of 2021 alone. 68 property owners have joined the WelcomeHomeOC Property Owner Network, according to the announcement of the partnership.
AAG also redeployed its own assets in the community recently, expanding its presence in a new company headquarters building while reducing its overall geographic footprint in the area. The move into the new headquarters was accomplished in conjunction with the adoption of a hybrid workforce model, with company leaders describing the events of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic as integral to understanding the benefits of such a model.
