NMA Blog

NMA's Steven Rosario will lead a session on preventing shortfall in the housing choice voucher program

In his current role as HCV program director, NMA's Steven Rosario oversees the operations of Miami-Dade County’s housing choice voucher program. He previously served as director of some of the largest voucher programs in the nation, administering more than 45,000 vouchers in Chicago and San Francisco.

With extensive experience in program and project designs, Steven is a high-energy, fiscally conscious, and goal-driven leader who has earned a reputation for building and leading strong and collaborative team efforts. He approaches each new challenge with a flair for innovation, creative problem-solving, and measured risk-taking to drive positive change in affordable housing programs. Steven will be presenting the following session at The Housing Conference.

Executive Leadership for Performance Excellence

Preventing Shortfall: Lessons Learned
Presenter, Steven Rosario

Housing authorities have historically been challenged with maximizing utilization without going over budget authority. This session will cover various funding scenarios and highlight the pitfalls that may result in a program shortfall. Topics to be discussed include:

• Program reserves: How much should you keep?
• PHA vs. HUD held reserves
• Disbursements vs. budget authority
• Prior calendar year HAP payments
• Cash vs. accrual accounting
• VMS updates
• Utilizing results of 2-year tool
• Impact of the PUC

The session will provide you with the guidance to ensure a PHA’s financial and program operations teams are tracking, updating, and reporting accurate and meaningful data. Along with this, the session will provide PHA with strategies on working with HUD’s shortfall prevention team.

The Housing Conference, presented by NMA and HAI Group, will spotlight three tracks: an executive track, a regulatory track, and a best practices track. Go here to view a list of the session descriptions that have been published so far.

With more than fifty years of experience in affordable housing, Nan McKay is considered to be the nation's foremost expert in the housing choice voucher program. Nan launched one of the nation’s first Section 8 programs as executive director of a Minnesota housing authority, went on to found Nan McKay & Associates in 1980, and continues to train and write books on how to successfully manage an HCV program.

NMA senior consultant Teri Robertson is nationally recognized as a leading expert in HCV and Section 8. She has written for the NMA blog about HCV administrative fees, how to maximize your agency’s performance rating, and working with sequestration in the HCV program. Teri and Nan will be presenting the following session at The Housing Conference.

Eric Kaufmann guides leaders to make better decisions and achieve better results. A native of Israel, he lived and worked in South Africa before gaining two decades of experience in sales, management, and leadership at Lanier/3M and Corning Clinical Laboratories. In 1999, he launched an executive development consultancy which has served Sony, T-Mobile, Genentech, Alcon Labs, Teradata, and hundreds of leaders of Fortune 1000 companies.

Eric will be presenting the keynote speech at the 2015 NMA and GoSection8 Housing Conference.

Keynote Speech, 2015 NMA and GoSection8 Housing Conference

Grayscale: Why Black and White Thinking is Fatal
Presenter, Eric Kaufmann

While your mind craves simple solutions, leadership demands complex calculations. Leaders are valued for their ability to make decisions, especially difficult ones. This presentation examines the essence of effective leadership: determining how to satisfy multiple stakeholders. A simple yes or no may be desirable, but unrealistic and inappropriate. So, how do you make good decisions, add value at an executive level, and strategically contribute to the organization? By learning to embrace paradox!

Eric Kaufmann’s diverse and varied life is a commitment to understanding and teaching wisdom. His published book, Leadership as a Hero’s Journey, shares practical ideas and tools that deepen a leader’s ability to be efficient, effective and deliberate — a leader whom people are drawn to follow. The crucible of Eric’s journey contains 13 years of leadership consulting, management at Fortune 100 firms, degrees in business and psychology, a quarter century of Zen practice, living in Israel and South Africa, teaching as a Master Scuba Diving instructor, and working as a certified hypnotherapist.

The conference will spotlight three tracks this year: an executive track, a regulatory track, and a hands-on track. Go here to view a list of the session descriptions that have been published so far, including Eric Kaufmann's interactive strategy workshop.

NMA's revision services team has been working hard to get the latest editions of our model policies and Master Books written, published, and shipped to you!

2015: For 2015, the NMA Model Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy (ACOP) and Guide has been brought current with all recent regulatory requirements and guidance, including:

• Updated language regarding nondiscrimination as outlined in Notice PIH 2014-20, which provides guidance on the equal access final rule
• Revised policy changes concerning flat rent requirements mandated under the 2014 appropriations act and outlined in Notice PIH 2014-12 and its accompanying PIH-issued FAQs
• Removal of the ACOP addendum due to the expiration of the temporary compliance provisions set forth in Notice PIH 2013-03 and extended by Notice PIH 2013-26
• Revised clarifications regarding the definition of extremely low-income family, area median income, and other requirements per the implementation of the 2014 appropriations act and the HERA final rule
• Other modifications for clarification and wording

2015: For the 2015 revision, the  NMA HCV Executive Management Master Book has been brought current with all recent regulatory requirements and guidance, including:

• Updates regarding the applicability of the equal access final rule to administrators and owners of HUD-assisted housing per Notice PIH 2014-20
• Additions regarding PHA-owned units to account for Notice PIH 2015-05 on project-based voucher (PBV) guidance
• Updates to all regulatory references concerning 24 CFR part 982, which has been revised to reflect the sunset of the former certificate program
• An entirely new section providing guidance and clarification on service and assistance animals
• Other changes and updates for clarity, accuracy, and ease of reading

2015: For the 2015 revision, the NMA Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Master Book has been brought current with all recent regulatory requirements and guidance, including:

• Updates regarding the applicability of the equal access final rule to administrators and owners of HUD-assisted housing per Notice PIH 2014-20
• Revisions to VAWA certification guidance pertaining to the transmittal of the newly updated form HUD-50066
• Minor modifications to account for Notice PIH 2014-25 on over-subsidization in the HCV program
• Updates to all regulatory references concerning 24 CFR part 982, which has been revised to reflect the sunset of the former certificate program
• Other changes and updates for clarity, accuracy, and ease of reading

2015: For the 2015 revision, the NMA HCV Housing Quality Standards (HQS) Master Book has been brought current with all recent regulatory requirements and guidance, including:

• Updates to all regulatory references concerning 24 CFR part 982, which has been revised to reflect the sunset of the former certificate program
• Revisions concerning the required frequency of inspections—either annually or biennially—per HUD’s implementation of the 2014 appropriations act provisions
• Other changes for clarity, accuracy, and ease of reading

Questions about your revision services subscriptions? Contact Laurie Durrett in our accounting department and she'll be happy to assist you.

NMA revision services provide a yearly update to your NMA Master Books and model policies with explanations and guidance regarding the most current HUD rules and regulations. To stay updated on the latest program information, try a free 30-day trial subscription to the PIH Alert. Email sales@nanmckay.com to get started.

Eric Kaufmann guides leaders to make better decisions and achieve better results. A native of Israel, he lived and worked in South Africa before gaining two decades of experience in sales, management, and leadership at Lanier/3M and Corning Clinical Laboratories. In 1999, he launched an executive development consultancy which has served Sony, T-Mobile, Genentech, Alcon Labs, Teradata, and hundreds of leaders of Fortune 1000 companies.

His book, Leadership as a Hero’s Journey, explores the four virtues shared by successful, passionate, and creative leaders. Eric will be presenting the following session at the 2015 NMA and GoSection8 Housing Conference.

Executive Leadership for Performance Excellence

From the Balcony to the Field: Turning Strategy into Measurable Action
Presenter, Eric Kaufmann

In this hands-on workshop, Eric Kaufmann will help participants translate strategy into measurable action. You'll learn the optimal steps for transitioning strategic initiatives to goals, objectives, and tasks, then put those steps into practice via interactive group dialogues. Participants will come away from this session with an understanding of the strategy execution model and how to leverage it to ensure follow through and reduce "fall through."

This is an interactive strategy workshop. Please bring a copy of your completed high-level strategic initiatives.

The conference will spotlight three tracks this year: an executive track, a regulatory track, and a hands-on track. Go here to view a list of the session descriptions that have been published so far.