With a few keystrokes, surfers of the Internet can access information about affordable rental housing units in the St. Louis area.

Socialserve.com, which provides a similar service in the Charlotte, N.C. and Kansas City metropolitan areas, last week inaugurated the Internet rental housing information service in the St. Louis area.

At a news conference Wednesday at the Housing Resource Center of the St. Patrick Center, 800 N. Tucker Blvd., public officials predicted the service offered by Non-Profit Industries of Charlotte, N.C. would provide a one-stop source of local, affordable, rental information.

The service offers free listings to those with rental properties.

Van Gottel, chief executive officer for Socialserve.com, said the service grew from a little more than 100 listings in the Kansas City area just before Christmas to more than 700 listings now.

The same thing will happen here, Gottel said.

"We're around 100 properties right now in St. Louis," Gottel said. "You will see this service mushroom. It works."

The St. Louis web site is being funded by the St. Louis Housing Authority, the Housing Authority of St. Louis County and the City of St. Louis Affordable Housing Commission Other sponsors include the Housing Resource Center founded by the Catholic Charities of St. Louis and Fannie Mae.

The links on the socialserve.com site lead people to the St. Louis area and questions on topics including the number of bedrooms and bathrooms desired, rent range, Zip Code desired and distance from a bus line.

From this comes a listing of addresses available, with rents, contact numbers and a link to a map of the area. More information is available to those clicking the address.

The click on an address in the 5500 block of Virginia Avenue shows a one-bedroom apartment was available for $375, with a $375 security deposit. A one-year lease was required, as well as a criminal and credit check.

The property was eligible for the Section 8 rental subsidy program. It had a refrigerator, washer/dryer hookup, water, air-conditioning and gas heat. It was within a block of a bus stop.

Among those who offered praise for the service at the news conference was Mayor Francis Slay.

"The city of St. Louis is very excited to be part of this effort," Slay said. "We certainly are concerned about issues of housing and connecting people with places to live, and with safe, affordable, quality places to live throughout the St. Louis region."