How to Find Travel Nurse Housing in Houston, TX

How to find travel nurse housing in Houston, TX
The Texas Medical Center and Houston’s big-city amenities attract travel nurses from around the country.

Travel nurses love working in Houston! A combination of trendy food, fantastic nightlife, and culture helps make Houston attractive to a diverse group of people, including medical professionals. The city ranks as one of the top ten hottest dream cities in the USA for travel nurses for all the reasons listed above, and then some. 

The availability of on-demand housing also contributes to the popularity of living and working in Houston on a travel assignment. When a nurse can find suitable accommodation quickly and move in with minimum fuss, it’s a win!

Before booking an expensive stay at a hotel or Airbnb (something many nurses do), take a minute and explore the option of professionally furnished apartments and on-demand housing.

Types of furnished housing for travel nurses

When making housing arrangements, many travel nurses end up booking an extended-stay hotel. Some find temporary accommodations through online vacation rental marketplaces. While we don’t recommend it for safety reasons, some nurses search Craigslist for an apartment or co-living situation.

Each option has pros and cons, but the cons likely outweigh the positives associated with most temporary housing options.

Who pays for travel nurse housing?

Travel nursing agencies usually include a housing stipend in the compensation package they offer to their employees. This stipend is meant to cover the cost of housing during the assignment. However, if you opt for agency-provided housing, you will not receive a housing stipend.

Who chooses the travel nurse’s housing?

Agencies usually have arrangements with a small number of corporate housing providers in a given city and the agency is the customer. Travel nurses have little choice about their housing since the corporate housing provider has limited gaps to fill.

Travel nurses who want to choose their own housing during the assignment take the housing stipend from the agency. Travelers can book their housing faster and with more choice if they take the stipend.

Hotels for travel nurses

Hotels, even the better extended-stay units, come with a high price tag. The living space is usually small, and may not even include a kitchen, but the rent is far from negligible. Frankly, kitchens in most of these properties consist of a microwave, small refrigerator, and maybe a cooktop. Dishes and cookware tend to be minimal or non-existent.

Airbnb, Craigslist, etc. for travel nurses

Online booking sites like Airbnb offer a seemingly endless array of choices, but there’s a disappointing level of quality control.  Craigslist and other similar sites can open up a Pandora’s Box of potential issues. Misleading information, intrusive landlords, and rental scams top the list.

Flexible, furnished apartments for travel nurses

Flexible furnished housing offers a better solution to the hunt for temporary living accommodations!

Houston, TX is a popular destination for travel nurses.
Houston, TX is a popular destination for travel nurses.

What is on-demand housing for travel nurses?

We live in a world where we want what we want, and we want it now. With the click of a mouse, we can order dinner, a ride, or a date!

After the short-term rental trend gained mainstream acceptance, another trend began to emerge:  on-demand housing, and it’s ideal for traveling nurses working in Houston.

The difference between an extended stay hotel, corporate housing, and housing on-demand is in the details. On-demand housing offers:

Convenience and Flexibility 

A digital, fully transparent booking process, with no need for a long-term lease agreement. Only book the dates you want – without worrying about whether it fits neatly into weeklong or monthly boxes.

Furnished Means Fully furnished

Well-appointed kitchens with cooking tools, blenders, and cookware are not found in most short-term or extended stay hotels.

Turnkey Living  

All utilities, including the internet, are set up and ready to go when you walk in the door.

Stylish, Professional Design

There is a happy medium between matchy-matchy, institutional hotel furniture, and the usual mishmash of furniture, decor, and personal items found in the listings of amateur Airbnb hosts.

Monthly Payment Options

Lodgeur offers monthly payment options for stays of 30+ nights.

Benefits of on-demand furnished apartments for travel nurses

Choosing flexible furnished housing offers multiple advantages to individuals looking for healthcare traveler housing in Houston. Most nurses begin their search by filtering for accommodation near their travel assignment or in an area with a lively, walkable neighborhood.

In the Houston area, the monthly cost to rent an unfurnished one-bedroom apartment ranges from $1,200 to $1,800, not including utilities. That’s for a long-term rental for 12-months! Short-term leases tend to be much higher. Adding furnished to the description will only further increase the cost.

With on-demand housing, the monthly rental price typically includes everything — high-quality accommodations, modern furnishings, utilities (including high-speed WiFi), and resort-style amenities, like well-appointed gyms and sparkling pools.

How do travel nurses get to work at the Texas Medical Center?

Parking at TMC for Travel Nurses

Whether searching for travel nurse housing near the Texas Medical Center, or another of the Houston-area’s hospitals, be sure to consider the time needed to get to your hospital and whether your hospital has parking available on site.

Some hospitals have no parking available for nurses, who then need to park in a remote lot and take a shuttle bus to the hospital. Hospital parking costs around $200 per month.

Most travel nurses take the METRORail directly to TMC

Travel nurses can avoid traffic and save money by taking the METRORail to the Texas Medical Center instead of driving. TMC traffic is famously unpredictable but the METRORail can have you to work on time without budgeting extra time for traffic. Lodgeur at Mid Main Lofts is directly on the Ensemble Station stop of the METRORail’s Red Line. TMC is five stops away.

Free parking in Midtown, METRORail to TMC

Travel nurses can bring a car for personal use and keep it parked in the apartment’s parking garage. They prefer to take the MetroRail to TMC for quick access to their hospitals. The travel nurses we host often share that they are looking for housing that allows them to reduce their commute time while making the most of their personal time.

METROrail map - Houston light rail
Lodgeur at Mid Main Lofts sits directly next to the Ensemble Station on the Red Line of the METRORail.

What should all furnished apartments include?

When evaluating whether a furnished apartment is the one, there’s nothing wrong with having high expectations. Travel nurses tell us that this is their wish list for a great temporary home:

  • Flexible booking dates with flexible cancellation terms, so nurses can extend or terminate their booking when their contract dates evolve.
  • Housekeeping every two weeks, because no one wants to spend their day off cleaning a bathroom.
  • WiFi ready to go, so you can stay connected.
  • Free and secure parking, with easy METRORail access to TMC and downtown.
  • Curated locations, with walkable, lively neighborhoods.

Why Lodgeur is great for travel nurse accommodations

Beyond price and location, travel nurses look for a wide range of benefits when choosing housing. What often gets overlooked is a stress-free move and a great first day on a new assignment. Lodgeur is an excellent solution for travel nurse housing because we take care of the details:

  • No boxes or movers
  • Live in a professionally designed, Instagram-worthy home
  • Convenience and flexibility, no lease commitments
  • You’re busy. We’ll deal with the utilities, set up the WiFi router, connect the smart TV, and come to clean and change your linens every two weeks

We go above and beyond to ensure our furnished apartments are not only at the right price and in the right location but include the extras that healthcare professionals appreciate. For example, our newly constructed units keep outside noise, well, outside where it belongs so that a person can sleep peacefully. Polished concrete flooring instead of carpet cuts down on dirt and allergens.

Put it all together, and Lodgeur is a great solution for travel nurse housing.

Rentals for travel nurses in Houston, TX by Lodgeur at Mid Main Lofts in Midtown
Rentals for travel nurses in Houston, TX by Lodgeur at Mid Main Lofts in Midtown.

Book your stay today for your Houston travel assignment

Our travel nurses deserve a comfortable, safe, move-in-ready option for housing. Booking a furnished apartment in Houston with Lodgeur offers all of that and more.

We make it easy to find nurse rentals and book with nothing more than a click. After all, this is on-demand housing. Welcome home!

Learn more about your extended stay in Houston

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