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ST. LOUIS — A few years back, Sabrina Jones Williams and her husband, Victor, decided to take their children on what they called a “yes� vacation.

Yes, we can go to Disneyland. Yes, we can stay in an all-inclusive hotel. Yes, we can buy “fast passes� so we don’t stand in lines all day.

It was expensive — about $15,000, which isn’t easy to save on a registered nurse’s salary — but they hoped to create memories the kids would talk about forever.

When school started that fall, her kids had one of those meetings with teachers in which they explain what they did over the summer. The kids talked about a visit to a local park. There was no mention of Disneyland.

Williams made a vow: No more $15,000 vacations. The money would be better spent elsewhere. She decided it was time to save money and invest in a side business.

In 2018, the Wellston native bought her first home to rent out. Her plan was to buy distressed properties in north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County, where she grew up.

Today, she has 26 properties, spread out among ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, Spanish Lake, Jennings and Riverview Gardens. And all of them are rented out to people who are at risk for homelessness.

Unlike many landlords, Williams will rent to people who have been evicted or who have a criminal records. She uses a nonprofit rental screening service called , which matches social service agencies and their clients with local landlords.

“It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread,� Williams said. “It allows me to feel a little more secure with providing second-chance housing when they come with social workers and programs that are going to help them stay in place.�

Developed by the , the software program was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, as thousands of people in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ region were facing eviction after losing their incomes. Landlords and nonprofits that serve the unhoused population were preparing for potential disaster. The Tower Grove CDC had already developed the first landlord-tenant screening software of its kind in the nation; it wanted to adapt the software for nonprofit agencies that help people who might be overlooked by landlords.

“We wanted to tap into that database of landlords we had already and help people avoid homelessness,� said Ella Gross, who manages the program for the Tower Grove CDC.

Gross calls the program a “Zillow for nonprofits.� It has succeeded in identifying landlords like Williams, willing to take tenants who might fail a traditional screening.

Williams said her tenants have case managers with established nonprofits — such as the St. Patrick Center, Doorways and Places for People — that are still providing services to clients after they rent a home. Also, the nonprofits often have access to funding sources to help cover rent for people who were in a homeless shelter or were recently evicted.

ARCH by HomeScreen has about 275 landlords in the city of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County who have been using the program to connect with nonprofits. The program has helped find housing for about 50 people at risk of homelessness this year.

Gross said her organization is applying for grants to grow the program, including developing a “landlord mitigation fund� that can help offset costs if a tenant has to be evicted or can’t fulfill the terms of a lease.

The program fits in with the “housing firstâ€� concept, which drove a recent regional summit to reduce homelessness in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and surrounding counties. Among the summit’s findings was a need to boost access to affordable housing and quickly move people from shelters to homes, or, better yet, make sure folks don’t need to use a shelter in the first place.

The ARCH by HomeScreen program can play an important role in the coordination of services, saidSamantha Stangl, executive director of the nonprofit, which helped organize the summit.

“ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ has all the elements we need for this effort to succeed,â€� Stangl said. “HomeScreen is the type of existing programmatic infrastructure that can be expanded and duplicated in other areas of the region.â€�

Williams said she hasn’t had to evict any tenants she found through ARCH by HomeScreen. She attributes that to the services provided by the nonprofits who help people renting her properties.

Gross attended the Housing First summit and knows there’s a need for affordable housing in surrounding counties like St. Charles, Warren and Lincoln. She hopes the Tower Grove CDC gets the funding to expand its services and meet the growing need.

“We’re always looking for more landlords,� Gross said. “The supply has not quite met the demand.�