Did you know you can receive an official PHM certification without leaving your desk? Nan McKay and Associates and HTVN are now offering our Public Housing Management (PHM) certification online.

Newly updated for 2015, it includes all the latest program information, including new HUD guidance on flat rent, the equal access final rule, the capital fund final rule, VAWA 2013, and more.

The 32-hour class is led by NMA senior trainer Cara Gillette, a seasoned expert in public housing management who will guide you through PHM's key principles and best practices:

Upon completion of this Nan McKay certification course, learners will understand all of the elements of public housing management and their impact on the PHA’s PHAS scores. This course covers basic public housing program information, HUD requirements for fair housing, factors of eligibility, tenant selection and wait list management, rent calculation, the occupancy cycle, resident relations strategies, managing a budget, and an overview of the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS).

NMA's longtime partnership with HTVN offers students the opportunity to enjoy many training options and earn a Nan McKay and Associates certification upon successful completion. NMA and HTVN are the only IACET-approved training and certification companies serving the affordable housing and public housing industries, which means you get the highest quality training plus the certification to show your achievement. IACET is a nonprofit association dedicated to quality continuing education and training programs, and is the only standard-setting organization approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for continuing education and training.

Other available online NMA certifications include:

• Customer Service
• Fair Housing and Reasonable Accommodation
• HCV Housing Quality Standards (HQS)
• HCV Specialist
• HCV Rent Calculation
• Rent Calculation for Public Housing and HCV
• Public Housing Rent Calculation

For more details, email sales@nanmckay.com. And don't miss this recent blog post with tips to help you get the most out of your online training.

NMA senior associate Cara Gillette trains, consults, and provides technical assistance nationwide in fair housing, public housing management, hearings, economic self-sufficiency, and governing boards. Prior to joining NMA, she administered public housing and Section 8 waiting lists, served as hearing officer, managed public housing, and oversaw resident economic development programs at the San Diego Housing Commission. She has previously written for the NMA blog on Section 3 best practices.

The latest version of the NMA Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) Master Book has shipped, and subscribers to our annual revision service can expect to receive it this week or next. If you have any questions about your subscription, please contact Laurie Durrett in our accounting department and she'll be happy to assist you.

For the 2015 revision, NMA's PHAS Master Book has been brought current with all recent regulatory requirements and guidance, including:

• Revisions to PHAS Indicator #4: Capital Fund Program, revised and expanded as per the Federal Register notice dated December 16, 2013, in the Federal Register notice dated July 2, 2014, and further clarified in a memo later that month
• Additions to important HUD references

Looking for further guidance? Don’t miss NMA trainer Terry Provance's blog series on the four PHAS indicators and how you can improve your agency's performance.

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.

One week left to register for the 2013 NMA Housing Conference and GoSection8 User Conference! New track sessions and signups for one-on-one consulting have just been announced. To read the full list of sessions, go here.

Executive Leadership for Performance Excellence

Don't Waste Strategy Time on Goal Setting!
Presenter, Eric Kaufmann, President, Sagatica LLC

Most strategy sessions are merely operational — a missed leadership opportunity. Eric Kaufmann guides leadership teams across the country and coaches corporate CEOs. He will present the way to prepare a strategic action plan that becomes a useful resource to accomplish your agency’s goals within limited funding. You will discover the six deadly mistakes of strategy planning. Ask the right questions, set the right measurements, and get to work!

Regulatory Knowledge for Smart Management

Why Your Agency Should Be Taking a Second Look at RAD
Presenter, Carrol Vaughan

The RAD demonstration program is a unique opportunity for housing authorities to convert their at-risk public housing to long-term Section 8 rental assistance contracts. In this session, we’ll cover the latest information on the program and discuss why your housing authority should take a serious look at whether RAD would work for your agency. We’ll also hear from staff at a large housing authority on why their agency is considering submitting an application, and review the thought process involved in making the decision to apply.

Fair Housing/Civil Rights Reviews: Are You Prepared?
Presenter, Annie Stevenson

Using HUD’s civil rights review checklist, we’ll discuss fair housing requirements for the public housing and HCV programs. Topics will include limited English proficiency (LEP), reasonable accommodations, alternative communication methods, and more. Don’t miss this opportunity to prepare for civil rights monitoring.

Free One-on-One NMA Consulting

Reserve your free session with an NMA industry expert! These consulting sessions are limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. In fact, some are already full, so we encourage you to sign up now.

Nan McKay, President and Founder
Expertise: HCV program management






John McKay, CEO
Expertise: Performance management, applying Baldrige principles to affordable housing






Carrol Vaughan, VP of Professional Services
Expertise: Procurement, organizational development






Dorian Jenkins, VP of Program Management
Expertise: HCV program, public housing leasing, tenant relations, rent collection, REAC prep, cost controls





Cydney Jones, Director of Program Management
Expertise: General HCV topics and issues






Sheryl Putnam, Professional Development Manager
Expertise: LIHTC compliance, HOME, PBRA






Samantha Pratter, Writing Supervisor
Expertise: HCV and public housing eligibility, occupancy, and rent calculation






Annie Stevenson, Senior Trainer
Expertise: Fair housing, hearings, EIV, general HCV and public housing topics






Terry Provance, Senior Trainer
Expertise: Fair housing, PHAS, public housing property management, general asset management issues





Sammie Szabo, Associate Trainer
Expertise: General HCV and public housing, PBV, blended occupancy






Jay Ortenzo, Property Services Manager
Expertise: HCV inspections and standards, public housing maintenance management






Teri Robertson, Senior Consultant
Expertise: SEMAP, quality control, HCV program utilization






Betty Turner, Senior Associate Trainer
Expertise: Transition to asset management, supervision, working with commissioners






Please note that you must be a registered conference attendee or new registrant in order to take advantage of free consulting sessions. Non-registrants without an accompanying registration are not eligible. Register online or email sales@nanmckay.com for more information. Winners of the 2013 NMA Housing Awards will be announced at the conference — don't miss it!

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announces RAD implementation at the Housing Authority of Savannah, January 2013

In a Federal Register notice yesterday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced to the public the online publication of revised program instructions for the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) in Notice PIH 2012-32, REV-1.

The Federal Register notice serves several functions, including these:

• It provides background information on RAD and summarizes the changes to the program instructions.
• It requests public comments on the revisions to be sent by e-mail to rad@hud.gov by August 1.
• It explains when the program revisions are effective.
• All revisions not subject to notice and comment are effective today.
• Revisions subject to notice and comment will become effective on August 1 unless HUD receives adverse comments that lead to reconsideration.
• It includes an appendix listing new statutory and regulatory waivers and alternative requirements.
• The waivers and alternative requirements that pertain to public housing conversions under RAD are listed in section I of the appendix. They have a separate effective date of July 12.

Notice PIH 2012-32, REV-1, which fills 230 pages, also contains a brief list of the major revisions made to the original RAD program instructions, which were published on July 26, 2012. For public housing, the list includes four major changes that are subject to 30-notice and comment:

• Providing RAD awards for projects requiring multiphased development to facilitate the assembly of financing (see section 1.9.E)
• Allowing a PHA to apply for a portfolio award for a set of projects if the PHA submits individual completed applications for at least 50 percent of the projects and then submits a completed application for each of the remaining projects within a year (see section 1.9.F and Attachment 1C)
• Expanding eligibility of HOPE VI projects (see section 1.11.C.2.c)
• Allowing PHAs to apply for a joint RAD–Choice Neighborhoods implementation grant under the notice of funding availability (NOFA) for these grants (see section 1.11.C.2.c)

Also for public housing, the list includes five changes that are not subject to notice and comment:

• Eliminating the caps on awards to PHAs and to mixed-finance projects (see section 1.11.C.2.c)
• Exempting awarded projects from scoring under the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) to support redevelopment planning and the need for temporary relocation during construction (see section 1.5.I)
• Providing contract rents at fiscal year 2012 rent levels (as posted in the RAD application) for all applications submitted before the end of calendar year 2013 (see sections 1.6.B.5 and 1.7.A.5 and Attachment 1C)
• Allowing PHAs to adjust subsidy (and initial contract rents) across multiple projects to facilitate financing (see sections 1.6.B.5, 1.7.A.5, and 1.9.D)
• Allowing Moving to Work (MTW) agencies applying to convert two or more projects to use their MTW block grant flexibility to set initial contract rents, subject to RAD rent caps and continued service requirements (see sections 1.6.B.5, 1.7.A.5, and 1.9.D)

For a more comprehensive section-by-section summary of changes that HUD has made to the RAD program instructions, see Appendix V of Notice PIH 2012-32, REV-1, which includes two tables, one listing program revisions and the other listing program clarifications. HUD has also posted another very helpful tool—a redline version of Notice PIH 2012-32, REV-1, which highlights all of the changes to the RAD program instructions.

To stay updated, follow the #RAD tag to keep up with all related blog posts or subscribe to the PIH Alert and Housing Resource Newsletter.

Tip #5: Plan for the future.

In Tip #2, I mentioned that the property manager should track the occupancy rate on a monthly basis. In doing so, your PHA will know whether the rate is improving, getting worse, or staying the same. But tracking is an ongoing process, and as your PHA approaches the end of its fiscal year, it will need to set new goals and plan for the following year, taking into consideration the identified problems and strengths.

This is an activity that should happen at the time of annual budget planning for the development. Keep in mind that planning is an area where everyone — development staff, the property manager, the asset manager, and executive management — needs to be in agreement.

Each development's occupancy rate is different,

and planning for each will likewise differ.

In order for your PHA to obtain the maximum score for occupancy in the PHAS management indicator, each development needs to achieve at least a 98 percent occupancy rate. How difficult a task this will be depends on the current circumstances at each development. If the development is having difficulty filling units and is experiencing a low occupancy rate, it could be quite challenging to achieve a 98 percent rate in the next year.

Taking such issues into consideration, your PHA needs to set goals that are realistic, but should also push the staff to do the best they can. If little is expected, little will be gained. On the other hand, if the development is already at 98 percent or higher, there may not be much more they have to do to maintain that rate, other than to keep doing what they're doing and monitor monthly in order to spot and correct any negative trends before they become a major concern.

To review, here are the five steps I've discussed to help your agency maximize occupancy under PHAS:

• Be aware of how PHAS measures occupancy.
• Know your current occupancy rate, and track it on a monthly basis.
• Check the occupancy rate against the fiscal year goals and identify problem areas.
• Take marketing into account.
• Plan for the future.

Remember, occupancy is the lifeblood of rental housing, and your occupancy rate has potential effects on every aspect of program operation. Understanding how to fill units and keep them filled is therefore essential — not just for improving PHAS scores, but for improving the overall health of your agency.

Terry Provance has been a trainer and consultant at Nan McKay and Associates since 1999. He specializes in the public housing program and is responsible for writing and keeping staff updated on asset management materials. He recently took the lead role in creating and developing NMA's new PH Occupancy Tracking Tool, which can be used by any rental development, whether or not it's HUD-assisted, including mixed finance and LIHTC properties.

Tip #4: Take marketing into account.

Marketing involves "closing the deal," and PHAs often fall short in this area.

Conditions that contribute to successful marketing include meeting the specific needs of your customers, effective outreach, good curb appeal (including what the family has heard about maintenance performance), and positive applicant perceptions regarding security.

Marketing is an ongoing process. It involves marketing potential

and location, strategies and techniques, and attracting and selling.

Good selling points include local grocery stores, child care,

adult education centers, health clinics, public transit, and schools.

Property managers need to know their customers' needs. For example, many working families work the same hours as normal business hours for the PHA. The manager may need to show units on weekends or evenings to attract working families. Also, keep in mind that different types of developments will each have their own customers with different needs and interests. That is, a development for families should focus attention on activities and services that are geared to families with children (e.g., sports, child care, and computer labs), whereas a development for the elderly and disabled will be most interested in health care, nutrition programs, accessibility, and community services.

Outreach can be done in a number of ways. Because the Internet is a growing outreach vehicle, consider developing a PHA website or using YouTube, Craigslist, and other Web resources. In addition, flyers and brochures, a model unit, advertisements, press releases, feature articles in the local media, and community presentations are all options that should be considered.

Whatever you use, making it attractive and interesting is of primary importance. And remember to change it up — a marketing tool will only work for a limited time, and then begin to lose its effectiveness. This is where creativity is important; marketing is a never-ending process.

Selling is also an important aspect of marketing, and nothing sells better than an attractive neighborhood, a clean unit, and a friendly staff. Most families go no further in the process if there's poor curb appeal. Spruce up the neighborhood, make signage attractive, and keep the development free of litter and trash. When you show a unit, make sure it's spotless and the details are polished. Check that all points of contact are friendly and helpful. Everyone is on the selling team.

Keep in mind that current residents aren't isolated from

current or potential applicants — they talk to each other.

As a matter of fact, current residents can attract future residents.

Finally, everyone wants a safe place to live. One of the best ways a property manager can enhance security is to work closely with local law enforcement. Report crime to local law enforcement, and note that local law enforcement should be sharing information they receive regarding crime in the developments.

Some other ideas to improve safety:

• Promote legitimate activities at the property that are visible and inviting
• Enforce the lease and eviction policy
• Target key crime locations for prevention
• Keep security systems in good working order
• Remove graffiti immediately
• Provide proper lighting, and keep laundry rooms and storage areas locked

Remember, if families don't feel secure in their surroundings, they won't recommend your property to prospective renters.

Next: Achieving maximum occupancy: Tip #5

Terry Provance has been a trainer and consultant at Nan McKay and Associates since 1999. He specializes in the public housing program and is responsible for writing and keeping staff updated on asset management materials. He recently took the lead role in creating and developing NMA's new PH Occupancy Tracking Tool, which can be used by any rental development, whether or not it's HUD-assisted, including mixed finance and LIHTC properties.

Tip #3: Check the occupancy rate against the fiscal year goals and identify problem areas.

Once you know your occupancy rate, the next step is to match it against the occupancy goals for the year. You should ask yourself whether the development is on track to meet the goals that were set at the beginning of the year, and if not, what the reasons might be.

A helpful measurement closely tied to occupancy rate is vacant unit turnaround time, which measures the time it takes, on average, to fill a vacancy after a unit is vacated. There are three categories that should be measured: down time, make-ready time, and lease-up time.

Knowing the average for these categories will help to determine any problems in the process that could be contributing to an undesirable occupancy rate. Also, keep in mind that as with occupancy rate, you'll want to exclude HUD-approved vacancy days.

Prior to the PHAS interim rule, vacant unit turnaround time was

also measured under PHAS. To achieve the maximum points,

HUD suggested an overall average of 15 to 20 days for total

unit turnaround time (in the private sector, the desired average

is closer to five days). HUD didn't break down the ideal time for

average down, make-ready, or lease-up time. The goals for

these averages would have been set by the PHA.

Down time is the time it takes management to turn the unit over to maintenance to make ready after gaining possession of the unit, which should be no more than one day on the average. This is essentially a communication issue. If it's taking longer than a day on average to turn the unit over to maintenance, the property manager needs to determine where and why the communication breakdown is occurring.

Make-ready time is the measurement of the average number of days it takes maintenance to prepare a unit for leasing. If it's taking longer than what the PHA has set in its goals, the property manager needs to work with maintenance to determine why. Some of the problems could be due to the organization and prioritizing of work:

• Are make-readies a high priority?
• Are there enough supplies to get the job done quickly, or are workers having to defer completion until supplies are ordered?
• Is the condition and number of tools available adequate to perform all maintenance tasks under normal conditions?
• Is staffing adequate to handle all the day-to-day maintenance activities?

Other issues related to make-ready time require coordinated efforts between maintenance and management. For example, when management unit inspections are coordinated with maintenance, maintenance will know what to expect in the number of inspection-generated work orders. Make sure that annual unit inspections are conducted as required by HUD regulations, and that deficiencies are addressed through work orders or the capital fund. In addition, quality assurance checks should be conducted on maintenance work, as well as on inspection staff. Finally, ask yourself whether tenants are being charged for damages beyond normal wear and tear, and whether the lease is being enforced when they don't pay or when the number of damages becomes excessive.

There are many possible reasons for a high average in make-ready time. Usually it's not just one reason, but a combination of problems that need to be addressed.

Not all the reasons for high make-ready time are within the

control of maintenance. There could be other factors, such as

those related to increased leniency in screening applicants

due to poor occupancy rates. While that might help fill units

in the short run, you could inadvertently be creating more

problems in the long run: good renters might move out,

damage to units could increase (raising the make-ready time),

and the morale of maintenance and lease-up staff could diminish.

Lease-up time measures the time it takes management to lease up a family once maintenance has prepared the unit for occupancy. This shouldn't take long if the development has a verified pool of applicants ready to go once a unit is ready. If the average time it takes lease-up staff to fill a unit is excessive, the property manager needs to determine what's causing the delay.

Having an adequate pool of applicants ready to go involves planning based on good data. If your PHA has a report indicating the average number of move-outs by month, you can see that not all months have the same average number of move-outs. For example, in a colder climate, the number of move-outs might be fewer in the winter than in the summer.

The type of development makes a difference, too. Family developments with school-age children may see higher move-outs during the summer than an elderly development. The average per month will be unique for each development in each PHA, and this data is essential in knowing how many families may be needed to fill anticipated vacancies.

A PHA usually needs to begin the process of filling anticipated vacancies three to four months in advance, and the agency needs to know how many families to pull from the waiting list to fill vacancies quickly. This number may vary by bedroom size and by development. For this reason, it's a good idea for your PHA to keep tabs on the average number of families that can be expected to respond to letters for eligibility appointments, the number that will be eligible, and of those eligible families, the number that will accept a unit offer. If data on those steps is collected and a report is generated and reviewed, your PHA will have a more precise number of applicants to pull from the list rather than guessing at the number needed.

Is lease-up time inadequate? Consider purging the waiting list, using site-based waiting lists, or changing the unit offer system.

Next: Achieving maximum occupancy: Tip #4

Terry Provance has been a trainer and consultant at Nan McKay and Associates since 1999. He specializes in the public housing program and is responsible for writing and keeping staff updated on asset management materials. He recently took the lead role in creating and developing NMA's new PH Occupancy Tracking Tool, which can be used by any rental development, whether or not it's HUD-assisted, including mixed finance and LIHTC properties.

In any rental housing endeavor — whether public housing or private rental housing — occupancy is the lifeblood of the business. Your agency cannot collect rent on an unoccupied unit; nor can it receive subsidy from HUD for those units, generally speaking. In light of ever-decreasing public housing subsidy, it's essential to keep your units filled.

HUD measures PHA performance related to occupancy through the public housing assessment system (PHAS). The four indicators under PHAS are:

• Physical condition
• Financial condition
• Management operations
• Capital fund

These four indicators are all interrelated, and poor occupancy rates can negatively impact all of them. That is, without the money that occupied units generate, it's difficult to keep the physical condition of the properties in decent, safe, and sanitary condition, and in good repair. In turn, renting a unit in poor physical condition is more difficult, causing the occupancy rate to sink further. That means even less money to do upkeep on the housing stock, creating a vicious circle. It's crucial that property managers understand the importance of keeping units filled.

Tip #1: Be aware of how PHAS measures occupancy.

Under PHAS, occupancy is scored twice: under the management operations indicator and under the capital fund indicator. Under management operations, it's measured by development, based on information which is entered into the financial data schedule (FDS) at the end of the PHA's fiscal year. It's measured again under capital fund, but for the entire public housing portfolio rather than the individual developments, and the data comes from HUD's Public and Indian Housing Information Center under the Inventory Management System (IMS/PIC).

The management operations indicator is worth 25 total points, 16 of which are contributed by the occupancy subindicator. In order to achieve the full 16 points, a public housing development must achieve an occupancy rate of 98 percent.

A detailed breakdown of how points are awarded by occupancy

rate under the management operations indicator can be found in

the Federal Register Notice on Management Operations Scoring.

The PHA's overall score for management operations is based on the sum of the unit weighted averages for all the public housing developments, divided by the total number of public housing units in the PHA's portfolio. This means that if one development has very poor performance in occupancy, it will most likely have an effect on the overall PHA score.

For each development, the occupancy rate for management

operations scoring is based upon the unit months leased divided

by the unit months available. Unit months leased means the

number of months within the assessed fiscal year that each unit

was actually occupied. Unit months available means the number

of months within the assessed fiscal year that each unit

was potentially available for occupancy.

Under the capital fund indicator, occupancy rate is one of two subindicators, the other being timeliness of fund obligation. This is important to note because the PHA must first receive all the points available for the timeliness of fund obligation subindicator in order to receive any of the five total possible points for occupancy rate. Remember, this measurement is taken using data in IMS/PIC for the PHA's entire public housing portfolio rather than by development.

A detailed breakdown of how points are awarded by occupancy

rate under the capital fund indicator can be found in

the Federal Register Notice on Capital Fund Scoring.

PHAS is scored based on a 100-point system, 21 points of which (16 in management operations and 5 in capital fund) come from occupancy. That's nearly a quarter of the overall PHAS score! Poor occupancy will have a negative impact on performance in the physical and financial areas as well.

It's safe to say that if each property manager is maximizing their occupancy rate, the PHAS occupancy and overall scores will reflect it.

Next: Achieving maximum occupancy: Tip #2

Terry Provance has been a trainer and consultant at Nan McKay and Associates since 1999. He specializes in the public housing program and is responsible for writing and keeping staff updated on asset management materials. He recently took the lead role in creating and developing NMA's new PH Occupancy Tracking Tool, which can be used by any rental development, whether or not it's HUD-assisted, including mixed finance and LIHTC properties.

HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) has published a new notice announcing a temporary change in the scoring of the interim PHAS capital fund indicator.

This change awards all housing authorities five points on the occupancy rate subindicator for their fiscal years ending in 2011 (that is, for their first assessment under the interim PHAS rule). The score already assigned to the indicator will be designated as advisory for one year (until June 11, 2013).

The new notice is effective today. PIH is asking for comments by July 11 and will thereafter issue a final notice.

NMA's PHAS/Occupancy Clinic provides you with the information you need to understand and accurately apply the PHAS interim rule. To stay updated on the latest program news, subscribe to the PIH Alert and Housing Resource Newsletter.

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Leave your links and recommendations in the comments.