Housing Search Site
A new website The Open House Project lets people with housing for Katrina refugees find people who need it, and vice versa. It was created by the Incubator Group, a private-equity firm in Nashville. The homepage reports, "We currently have 4459 beds available to those affected by the Hurricane." From the FAQ:
Q: What's the difference between you and the other housing projects ?
A: Our site is keeps your information private. We think that letting someone come and live in your home is a very, very big deal, and at the same time we don't think that everyone should be plastering their names, phone numbers, and addresses all over the internet and gulf coast. It's a somewhat difficult issue, because on one hand everyone really wants to open their homes, yet on the other hand, they want to be a little selective of who they are letting live with them. At this point, we are asking people who don't mind sharing all of their personal information to sign up at the larger housing sites as they have a little more open distribution of lists. However, the open house project seems to be the only one that introduces a one-way privacy approach and you should use this site if you want to initiate contact instead of people initiating contact with you.