Santa Clara County Housing Authority

Since 1967, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority (SCCHA), an independent local government agency,  has administered the federal rental assistance programs authorized by the United States Housing Act of 1937. The conventional means of delivering their essential services – paper applications, in-person meetings, were no longer sufficient to meet high demand for their limited resources and more modern needs of their customers.

Blackbird coordinated the development and implementation of the Santa Clara County Housing Authority’s online tenant portal and interest list platform. The project’s initial success inspired an ambitious new goal: SCCHA 2.0 [Status: Under Development]. In 2021, Blackbird will work alongside the housing authority and its design partner to completely redesign their internal workflows and modernize their interactions with the tenants they serve, prioritizing trust,  transparency and impact.

This innovative project launched earlier this year and has proven to be invaluable during the COVID-19 Pandemic, assuring that SCCHA could continue to serve its households – of which more than 80% are extremely low-income families, seniors, veterans, persons with disabilities and the formerly homeless.