Rising housing costs and the shortage of affordable housing have become some of the most pressing issues in the country, particularly in big cities like Los Angeles where I work and where we see more and more people falling into homelessness each day.

With COVID-19 rent relief efforts and eviction moratoriums set to expire, we anticipate that the immediate need for affordable housing will only continue to grow.
To offer an immediate solution to housing shortages, many cities and municipalities are turning to master leasing and third-party leasing, with a particular focus on multi-bedroom housing units being used as shared housing. Master leasing and third-party leasing offer many benefits for low-income and homeless prospective renters, as well as to the homeless service system and providers.

With these approaches, suddenly thousands of existing housing units could become available to those who have previously been pushed out of the traditional rental market. Master leasing has the potential to drastically reduce street-based homelessness in a short period of time. These strategies capitalize on the existing stock of available apartment units – while addressing the barriers to housing that many people experiencing homelessness face.

A master lease is a type of lease that gives the lessee the right to control and sublease the property during the lease, while the owner retains the legal title. In this case, a housing authority or service provider would be the lessee, allowing them to sublease the property to its clients.

Read the full article about master leasing by Kris Freed at National Alliance to End Homelessness.