Unlock Housing

stuart, our mascot

Inspiration

When we talk about justice reforms, too often does it stop at the prison gates, when in reality, it doesn’t end there. Housing is a human right, and access to stable housing impacts various aspects of life, including wellness, employment, and preventing repeat offenders. Nonetheless, formerly incarcerated people often face discrimination and are more likely to experience homelessness. A second chance starts with a front door and the opportunity to build a stable, dignified life beyond it.

What Unlock Housing Does

Unlock Housing helps connect formerly incarcerated people with landlords so they can find stable housing. The website includes additional resources, including but not limited to, employment, transportation, and mental health and wellness programs.

How We Built Unlock Housing

Code Editor: Visual Studio Code Languages, frameworks, & Libraries: TypeScript, Next.js, React, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, Supabase (auth/storage/database), GSAP, locomotive-scroll, Leaflet + react-leaflet with OpenStreetMap tiles, jsPDF, Recharts, Lucide icons, and the Hack Club AI API. Design Tools: Krita, remove.bg

Challenges We Encountered

We had to find a way to verify that the accounts of homeowners on our site are accurate and truthful, and after problem-solving a solution, we opted to rely on a public site (property.phila.gov) to confirm ownership.

Additionally, we struggled to find an incentive for homeowners to use our platform and rent their property to formerly incarcerated individuals. We hope to use data collected from the site to leverage legislators to help incentivize homeowners. Those struggling to find renters would also be incentivised to use this as a resource to find more tenants.

Initial Landlord Participants: As mentioned above, there are a lack of incentives for homeowners to participate in the platform as things currently stand. However, we hope to leverage the data that can be collected from the site to build credibility in the eyes of the homeowners and officials. Since building trust is one of the main issues in the initial phases of the platform, partnerships with trusted housing programs for reentry, homelessness, and second chances could help bridge the gap in credibility through a data driven approach. Of course, the homeless and re-entry programs would require additional qualifiers to ensure that the intended population is served. The following organizations already have housing programs in place and this platform could additionally act as a centralized location for applicants to connect with these organizations.

The Urban League of Greater Philadelphia HOUSING & DIVERSION SERVICES | ULGP

Project HOME Street Outreach | Project HOME

Redemption Housing Next Level Housing - Redemption Housing

Second Chance Apartments in Pennsylvania Second Chance Apartments in Pennsylvania (2025)

Accomplishments We’re Proud Of

During the Hackathon, we joined forces with another group that shared a similar vision and passion. It was an empowering experience to collaborate with people with diverse skill sets to bring our vision to life.

What We Learned

Through the constraints of the Hackathon, we’ve learned to better manage our time, problem-solve, and work in a collaborative environment. Additionally, even though there are limitations to our solution due to timing, resources, and legal considerations, there is still opportunity to provide meaningful assistance and further expansion.

What's Next for Unlock Housing

Next steps include: legislative efforts to create incentive structures for landlords to opt into the program and establishing landlord/housing partnerships for greater re-entry assistance.