After a fast-paced walk along Harlem’s streets and up staircases, Ishmael Randall found himself in front of Apartment 23. He matched the number against his real estate listings, and entered. Giving a visual sweep over the empty two-bedroom, he said, “Pretty decent size apartment for a Section 8 family,” and proceeded to inspect the walls and windows.

In a peculiar economic twist during the recession, housing New York City’s homeless is easier, especially with help from public assistance programs such as Section 8 and Advantage, and a larger inventory of available apartments, say specialists at homeless shelters. And Ishmael Randall, 35, executive director of a real estate company, Fortune Hunters, has helped bring about this change.

Hurt by the recession, some people can no longer afford to buy or rent property so apartments remain vacant longer even though landlords have to keep paying their mortgages. With increased vacancies on one side and a growing homeless population on the other, Randall said he decided to introduce landlords to an untraditional market: the homeless in the city’s shelters. “The main goal is to try and convince the landlord that there are other streams of income out there,” he said. But knowing landlords would be unknowledgeable or skeptical about dealing with the homeless, he said he put together Powerpoint presentations for informational sessions.

Randall said he would explain, for example, how the Department of Homeless Services Advantage Programs would pay landlords up to $889 for a studio while the New York City Housing Authority pays up to $1,095 through Section 8, a program that subsidizes low-income families in permanent housing.

“So reluctantly, a lot of landlords started dealing with programs” that pay to house the homeless, said Randall.

Last summer, Randall said, he found more than 24 apartments for homeless people. It was the first time he had worked on finding housing for homeless shelter residents. Kristy Buller, a spokesperson from the New York City Department of Homeless Services said that for the fiscal year 2009, her department placed 16 percent more people from homeless shelters into permanent housing as compared to the fiscal year of 2008. Heidi Morales, a NYCHA spokesperson, said there were 32,867 participating landlords, according to its latest 2009 data, and 31,536 participating landlords in 2008.

From an office on West 115th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, Randall runs a full-scale real estate business that rents out apartments, and buys, sells and renovates buildings. He works with landlords, real estate management companies, contractors and retail clients seeking housing, but, he said that in the first half of 2009, he suffered a steep decrease in clients—people who could afford to rent a three-bedroom apartment for $2,100, for instance.

“When the market really got bad, we felt we needed to be fluid,” said Randall, a native New Yorker. Pointing to a foot-high stack of application papers, he said that people in shelters constitute “clients that we would never run out of.”

Randall said he works from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. “Every day means something. Every hour means something,” he said. He charges the tenant a commission of one month’s rent, and that includes the homeless, who are left to their own means to come up with that fee. “Time is money. Money is time.”

His iPhone vibrated at least 10 times every half hour during a recent visit to his office. One client may call him multiple times a day, seeking updates on their rental application. Or a landlord updates him on a newly available apartment. Randall said he sees about seven apartments everyday.

Along the way, he watches for “For Sale” and “For Rent” signs that signify new business opportunities. Sometimes they come in the form of shuttered windows or seemingly empty apartments. He stops for a minute to take out a notepad from his black backpack and scribble down the address and any available contact information.

“Where’s the next deal?” he asked.

He said he is also moved by personal, moral and spiritual incentives. His mother had undergone domestic violence, and he has since been sensitive to homeless people driven to the shelter under similar circumstances, he said. “I get a great deal of satisfaction helping people get housing.” He said that he understands the hardships of the homeless, and that having a home is the most basic step in getting one’s life together.

Every Friday afternoon, he prays at the Masjid Aqsa, a mosque right around the corner from his office. “I’m trying to serve Allah, the Lord, the best way I can,” he said. “I get a lot of motivation knowing that people need something, and I got something available for them.”

Homeless clients come to Randall on their own or with the aid of a housing specialist from a homeless shelter. Kimberly Benson, director of Old Broadway Hotel, a shelter in Harlem, said that given the recession, more landlords are taking those shelter residents in Advantage and Section 8 programs. “There has been a high turnover of homeless people into permanent housing,” she said.

Randall’s clients fill out an application form with a fee of $50, which covers the costs of a criminal background check and a credit report. Randall then checks out the available properties of the landlords he works with and arranges for apartment viewings for his clients, many of whom he accompanies. Once an agreement between landlord and client has been reached, both parties fill out forms for the housing authority—the Advantage or Section 8 programs. Once the agencies give their approval—usually within two weeks—the client can then move in.

One of Randall's clients, Elizabeth Abraham, said she came to New York from Puerto Rico in March this year for treatment for a stroke she had in 1989 and to find an apartment. At first she stayed with friends and in August she moved to a homeless shelter on the Lower East Side called Barrier Free Living. Abraham, 52, who sometimes needs to use a wheelchair, lives in the disability section of the shelter with three other females.

In September, Abraham walked into Randall's office looking for an apartment. Randall took her to see thirteen apartments and she decided on a one-bedroom with wheelchair accessibility in Harlem. She sought help from Section 8 and on Nov. 30, the agency approved Abraham's application.

While Randall has been able to help place Abraham in Manhattan, most of the available apartments are in Brooklyn and the Bronx. “Manhattan real estate prices are too high to be able to be compensated by government subsidy,” said Steven Kamhi, a landlord who owns four apartments in Harlem. For one of his 18-unit buildings, yearly operating costs include about $15,000 to $18,000 for the super and about $18,000 to $50,000 in taxes. He also said his purchase price was very high and his mortgages, combined with the operating costs, were too high to be covered by the government subsidies. He works with Randall on other development projects, however.

Randall said he works on any project that he can find: “You gotta be resourceful. You gotta be a thinker, quick on your toes.”