NMA Blog

We would like to highlight two more winners of the 2021 NMA Housing Awards—our Resident Service awardees—as well as one other agency whose work impressed us.

East Baton Rouge Parish, LA steps up

For one southern city, last year, during the height of the pandemic, necessity was the mother of invention.

The idea for the Beds for Babies/Beds for Kids program began when a member of the E. Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority maintenance team noticed children’s bedrooms without beds and asked if he could purchase the wood and supplies to build a bed for these children. This problem of infants and young children sleeping on the floor or co-sleeping with parents and siblings was elevated to Director J. Daniels and the entire staff of the EBRPHA. Turns out under the financial stress of COVID-19 some new parents were struggling to buy these pricey items.

Director Daniels and his team found that 50 children had been sleeping with their parents, on sofas or pallets.

Adam Ensalaco, one of NMA’s experts on FSS program management, shares his thoughts on maintaining a successful program.

What is FSS?

FSS is the most powerful mechanism in the HUD world for moving a family out of poverty, bar none.

The FSS—Family Self-Sufficiency—program enables HUD-assisted families to increase their earned income and reduce their dependency on government assistance. A roof over their head and rent relief are not enough; FSS provides the momentum families need to become self-sufficient.

NMA's revision services team has been working hard to get the latest editions of our Master Books written, published, and out to you! These books have been brought current with all recent regulatory updates, including HOTMA, VAWA 2013, and more. 

Our technical writers and subject matter experts have just completed a special mid-year revision to both our Model Administrative Plan and Model ACOP. These revisions incorporate extensive policy changes brought about by Notice PIH 2017-08, Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA) guidance  published this past May, along with additional revisions due to January’s Lead-Based Paint Final Rule.

In her capacity with the San Diego Housing Commission, Patti Zatarian-Menard designed, developed, and implemented one of the nation’s largest and most successful family self-sufficiency programs. For the past two decades, she has worked with Nan McKay & Associates conducting training seminars nationally and undertaking consulting assignments on federally subsidized housing. Patti will present the following session at The Housing Conference next week.