With connections in the short-term rental industry, real estate agent Misty Van Hooser is helping place displaced families in temporary housing.
ROGERS, Arkansas — A short-term rental group is helping connect displaced families with temporary housing after Sunday’s storms destroyed several homes in northwest Arkansas.
Disaster relief efforts have helped remove trees and tarp roofs, but many are still left without a place to stay.
A Rogers owner said he had searched for hotel rooms in northwest Arkansas, Fort Smith and Joplin, without success. He finally found a room for his wife in Branson, as conditions in the roofless house worsened his pneumonia.
After seeing people left homeless, Keller William real estate agent Misty Van Hooser used her connections to help them find a safe place to stay. The Arkansas real estate agent works with short-term rental investors and runs the NWA Short Term Rentals Facebook group.
“I started reaching out to clients, friends and everyone. And then within minutes I found out that we had been largely devastated by some serious storms and tornadoes,” Van Hooser said. “We started problem-solving right away to figure out how we could use Airbnb and short-term rentals to help provide housing for people who had been displaced.”
Van Hooser also helped Caleb Hill and his family find a place to stay after trees and power lines fell around their home, leaving them without power.
“Some of our neighbors across the street have power now, but we don’t have it yet because they have to replace the whole pole,” Hill said. “So instead of living without electricity or heat, luckily we found this nice place that we could rent for a few nights.”
Van Hooser said his first thought was to ask Tara Rawlins for help. Rawlins manages 5 Star Stay NWA, which manages properties in northwest Arkansas and southern Missouri. Rawlins said she had to coordinate 30 properties that had 30 different guests so they could be available for displaced local owners. She worked with Laura Thomas of P + H Design Services to prepare the properties.
“Around 2 a.m., we started working together and thinking about different ideas and ways to run these Airbnb properties. And just making sure that everyone affected by the storm and all the victims have a nice, warm place to stay,” Thomas said.
While the group wants to help provide a safe space for displaced homeowners, they know it’s just the beginning.
“Being able to help my neighbors or my friends’ neighbors is incredibly rewarding. I hate that we’re in the position of having to do it, but I’m happy to have something to offer,” Rawlins said.
Van Hooser said his main job is to be on top of finding resources for people in the community.
“I feel like my job right now is to be as knowledgeable as possible and stay informed about the resources available and make sure that I can connect people with the right resources so that hopefully we don’t have families have to be too far apart.” , he claimed. “We can keep them together. And we’re doing everything we can to do that.”
In addition to short-term rentals, Van Hooser said there is also a need to begin the process of home repairs and inspections.
“There are displaced people who are going to look for new homes, so we will need builders to build as quickly as possible. We will need homes to be repaired making sure inspections are done efficiently,” Van said. Hooser added. “I know we’re being proactive in the inspection process because we want to make sure the homes people are moving into are safe and haven’t been damaged by the storm. So what does this look like? The big picture? I think that we will all figure it out together.”
You can visit Van Hooser’s Facebook group, NWA Displaced Homeowners, to connect with resources.
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