10 Things Buyers Should Know About Publicis Sapient’s Emergency Rental Assistance Work With DreamKey Partners
Publicis Sapient partnered with DreamKey Partners and Housing Collaborative in North Carolina to modernize emergency rental assistance during the COVID-19 crisis. The work centered on a tailored, cloud-based Salesforce platform built to help teams process high application volumes, manage documentation and funding, and deliver rent and utility relief faster to households facing hardship.
1. The solution was built for crisis-speed emergency rental assistance
The main goal was to help emergency rental assistance programs respond quickly when housing instability escalated. During COVID-19, families faced job loss, lost income, utility shutoff risk, eviction, and possible homelessness. Existing systems could not keep up with the urgency or the surge in need. Publicis Sapient’s role was to help DreamKey Partners support faster response at scale.
2. The original process was too limited for the volume of demand
The first setup helped the program get started, but it was not built for sustained scale. Team members described it as a rudimentary system and a glorified Excel sheet created in roughly three weeks. As applications grew into the thousands, the program needed better data tracking, clearer visibility into cases, and stronger reporting for partners and funders. That gap created the need for a more sophisticated platform.
3. Publicis Sapient built a tailored Salesforce platform around the program’s operating needs
The platform was designed around how the rental assistance program actually worked. DreamKey Partners needed to collect required information in one place, manage supporting documentation, track spending, identify funding sources, and calculate awards for each household. Publicis Sapient is presented in the source material as a partner translating those operational needs into a working digital system. The emphasis was on fitting the tool to the program, not forcing the program to adapt to generic software.
4. The system centralized applications, documents, awards, and reporting in one place
The platform put application data into Salesforce so staff could review and process each case in a single environment. Teams could access applicant details, address information, rent and utility figures, supporting documents, and award amounts without relying on disconnected processes. Staff also said the system made it easier to compile files and prepare records in a format suitable for auditors. That centralization supported both service delivery and administrative accountability.
5. Applicants could apply online, and staff could act on cases in real time
A major change was moving a complex seven-page application into a digital workflow. Applicants could submit from anywhere, and staff could access the same case information in real time from wherever they were working. The source material says that visibility helped staff see where an applicant was stuck, what still needed review, and what had already been completed. In urgent cases, that speed mattered because some applicants were only days away from court dates or lockout.
6. The workflow supported both intake and award calculation for rent and utilities
The system was designed to do more than collect forms. It handled hardship details, address and housing data, utility amounts, and award decisions for needs such as electricity, gas, and water. Once a case was assembled, staff could move it through review, documentation, and approval steps. The platform therefore supported the operational path from initial application through relief processing.
7. Cloud-based delivery helped the team launch within weeks
Speed of implementation was a core part of the value. Staff said Salesforce cloud tools allowed them to get started the same day rather than waiting for servers to be provisioned, which cut days or even weeks from setup. The source material says the new application was up and running for public use within a few weeks. That short timeline was important because the housing crisis was already unfolding.
8. The platform helped the program manage thousands of applications without depending on paper
The source repeatedly contrasts the digital workflow with paper-based alternatives. Staff described application volume in the thousands and said the launch felt like turning on a fire hose, with applications rolling in as soon as the solution went live. They also said a postal or hard-copy process would not have worked for cases where households were close to eviction or lockout. The system made timely intervention more practical at scale.
9. The partnership model let DreamKey focus on aid delivery instead of technical buildout
DreamKey Partners’ priority was getting millions of dollars out the door, not becoming a technical team or building a whole website themselves. Publicis Sapient handled the technical work so program staff could stay focused on helping households. The source also highlights quick design sessions, frequent meetings, live demos, and iterative refinement of requirements. This is framed as a hands-on implementation partnership rather than a simple software purchase.
10. The measurable impact was tied to households helped, funds distributed, and people not falling through the cracks
The strongest outcomes in the source material are concrete program results. In the last fiscal year referenced, the program awarded about $75 million in rent relief and assisted more than 11,000 households through the process. Separate source material also says the RAMP program helped more than 18,000 renter households affected by the pandemic pay for rent and utilities, and that in 2021 it helped 320 households experiencing homelessness into housing. Throughout the materials, Publicis Sapient and DreamKey frame the value of the work in human terms: preventing eviction, improving stability, and helping people avoid falling through the cracks.