Some have said the shortage of affordable housing in the Central Okanagan is reaching crisis proportions.
Now two engineers at UBC Okanagan in Kelowna, B.C. have partnered to create a solution to help ease the situation.
“It’s more about connecting and less about transacting,” Happipad president Ken Chau said.
Happipad is a social renting website that matches renters with landlords.
“It’s the equivalent of Airbnb but for long-term renters,” Happipad co-creater Cailan Libby said.
Happipad is free to browse but has a one time cost: $10 for renters, $30 for landlords.
When a connection is made, the platform handles everything online including the contract.
Both landlords and renters are able to give feedback on each other at the end of tenancy.
“Most references are false positives so it’s a true, accurate system that allows people to provide unbiased, fair opinions,” Libby said.
After going live a month ago, the site claims to have 5,000 unique viewers.
The creators have plans to take their website around the world.