Broward County's Homeless Initiative Partnership Second Chances Live Here
Greater Fort Lauderdale, best-known for vibrant sunshine and scenery, houses a sobering statistic: one of the largest homeless populations in the United States. When Broward County’s Homelessness Initiative Partnership and Starmark joined forces to successfully tackle one of today’s toughest challenges, it gave residents fresh hope — and a new lease on life.
The challenge
Broward County’s Homelessness Initiative Partnership (HIP), in collaboration with the Broward Partnership, wanted to tackle the homelessness challenge in a different way. By targeting landlords directly, HIP proposed a financially-supported, business-friendly path that could open landlords’ minds and vacant units to help these vulnerable populations. But HIP struggled to capture landlord interest. Broward County was already experiencing high rental demand with far more eager renters than vacancies. Busy landlords weren’t motivated to learn more or participate.
HIP invited Starmark to partner with them to brand, market and launch the initiative in a more compelling way that could boost landlord interest and registrations.
Winning minds and hearts
Nonprofit marketing typically focuses on the heartstrings. This initiative was more nuanced: at its core, it was a business-to-business campaign. The value proposition had to appeal to both head and heart. Landlords needed to know they could earn profitable income on vacant units, while also helping their local community.
Developing brand strategy and platform
Starmark began with in-depth stakeholder interviews and brand development work, which informed brainstorming and preference-testing of a wide variety of names, taglines and supporting brandmarks to see which would resonate best with audiences matching our target.
Audiences chose Project HomeAgain (PHA) as best at capturing the program’s promise: to bring more people back into a safe, stable living environment. The winning tagline shared the agency’s mission: “From Hope To Home — With Your Help” and the winning brandmark depicted the inviting warmth of a home with its welcoming open door.
The right marketing toolbox
Once a strong brand platform was solidified, Starmark developed a Marketing Toolkit that quickly and concisely shared the benefits of the program to busy landlords and RE brokers; business leaders; county commissioners; city mayors; and other key community influencers.
This robust toolkit ensured brand and marketing consistency across all Project HomeAgain staff and partner efforts. Templates included print ads, logo lockups, a brochure, social and website tiles, landing page, emails, e-newsletter and series of eye-grabbing “Fast Facts” tracking results.
Building trust. Dispelling myths.
A series of 16 video clips were shot and edited as part of the campaign, featuring landlords and formerly-homeless PHA clients. These award-winning videos were prominently featured on websites, YouTube, emails, at county meetings and in other channels.
Reassuring Landlords
The satisfaction expressed by landlords like Michael Gordon about his Project HomeAgain experience built credibility and confidence about the program. It reassured potential landlords that PHA was well-established, well-managed and a rewarding business opportunity.
Defying Stereotypes
PHA clients who shared their personal journey on camera defied common stereotypes about the homeless. Starmark’s shoot style, interviewing approach, storytelling and editing humanized residents while showing Project HomeAgain’s positive impact.
Breaking Bread. Boosting Awareness.
Starmark’s next move transformed an existing PHA tradition: the annual landlord appreciation breakfast. The goal: elevate this modest get-together with more impactful show elements, splashier landlord recognition and a wider audience.
Starmark led run of show, revamping the event to feature inspiring keynote speakers; oversized screens with attention-grabbing Fast Facts and evocative footage; and an expanded invitee list that welcomed families and friends of landlords; media representatives and other community influencers; as well as promising prospects, (real estate brokers, property managers and landlords not yet familiar with Project HomeAgain.)
Awarding the coveted Gold Key
As part of the revamped event, Starmark debuted a “Gold Key” awards program that publicly honored landlord milestones like the largest number of Project HomeAgain rental residents and the landlord with the longest program tenure. This not only shared well-deserved accolades: it boosted program visibility and credibility amongst prospective landlords at the event, as well as others who saw coverage of the award winners in post-event communications.
Coverage of the event was prominently featured in social media posts and the Project HomeAgain quarterly e-newsletter, distributed to many throughout the community.
Building on success: campaign extensions
Following the success of Project HomeAgain, Starmark was asked to develop a supplemental campaign: a co-branded effort with United Way of Broward County’s MISSION UNITED Supportive Services For Veteran Families (SSVF), that would focus exclusively on housing for homeless US Veterans.
US Veterans are a disproportionately large percentage of the homeless population, both nationally and here in South Florida. Starmark developed a robust Marketing Toolkit representing both Project HomeAgain and MISSION UNITED SSVF for partners and affiliates seeking Veteran housing support. From ads and brochures to an emotionally-evocative “Veterans Voices” video, Starmark brought the troubling plight of US Veterans to life and how to help through Project HomeAgain.
Life-changing results
“While our team was excited to earn industry awards, it was more gratifying to see what a positive difference we made here in our own backyard,” said Jacqui Hartnett, Starmark President. “Every newly registered landlord saved more families, Veterans and other residents from the streets. Working with Homelessness Initiative Partnership (HIP) and Broward County was a real honor.”
“Working with Starmark was so rewarding, from initial discussions to the extraordinary end result,” said Rebecca S. E. McGuire, Ph. D., VP of Housing at United Way of Broward County. ”Their strategic skills and creativity transformed the program’s awareness and appeal, helping us resonate with landlords, county officials and key influencers. They collaborated closely throughout: there were never any unwelcome surprises. The outcome genuinely exceeded our expectations in every way.”
