Metrolist connects Boston residents with affordable housing opportunities across the city, but the platform was showing its age. It was built on outdated technology that made it slow and hard to maintain, and a dated interface with limited accessibility made it harder to navigate for the very people who depended on it most. We partnered with the City to rebuild it.
We integrated Boston's affordable housing data from a Salesforce database into the public website, creating a persistent feed using OAuth2 that updates information in real time as records are created, updated, or deleted. We also helped the City re-architect its database structure, streamlining the import process from approximately 50,000 records down to only several hundred, which cut the total import time by over 90%.
Residents can filter and sort listings based on the criteria that matter most to them, and because we store the data as custom objects within Drupal, the platform avoids interfering with boston.gov's existing caching layer and stays fast. The rebuilt interface follows the City's Fleet design patterns, meets ADA accessibility standards, and works as well on a phone as it does on a desktop. We also trained City staff and provided documentation so they could manage the platform with confidence.
The new Metrolist reaches more people than the old one ever could. User engagement and satisfaction are up, load times are down, and the platform has set a benchmark for other city services. Most importantly, residents now have instant access to housing information 24/7, whenever they need it.
“During the discovery and development of the online platform of Metrolist, Jantcu provided both Drupal and business process improvement expertise. Jantcu built a seamless integration between our Salesforce instance and Drupal, thus allowing our data to be displayed on the boston.gov online platform. With Jantcu's partnership, we were able to enhance and streamline our internal business process and provide constituents with instant access to housing information 24/7.”
— Shana Berry, Product Owner, Department of Neighborhood Development
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