As we know, public housing funding for April is at a 73% proration level. HUD plans to issue a second funding to bring the April proration level up to 79%.
The business of owning and managing affordable housing in decent, safe, and sanitary condition and in good repair remains our mission. PHAs need to plan more strategically than ever before. So, as all businesses must ask in tough times: How can we maximize dollars and cut costs?
Tip #4: Consider establishing slightly more generous occupancy standards for the hard-to-fill properties.
HUD allows PHAs to establish different occupancy standards for different projects. Doing so would require an ACOP revision, of course, and would also need to be included in the PHA plan (as would many of the other tips in this series).
In a hard-to-fill property, for example, your PHA might consider establishing an occupancy standard of one child per bedroom. Be careful, though, that you're not making families wait longer for unit offers, as that could be a familial status problem.
Giving families some choice (such as whether to wait for the larger unit, or take the smaller unit sooner) is a best practice. Occupancy standards in public housing aren't like payment standards in HCV; you want to keep your units filled, and if the property is more attractive to higher rent-paying families, it's a win-win.
Next: Working with sequestration in the public housing program: Tip #5
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, Ms. Gillette served at the San Diego Housing Commission, administering its public housing and Section 8 waiting lists, serving as hearing officer, managing public housing, and overseeing resident economic development programs. She has previously written for the NMA blog about blended occupancy projects.
If you find that you need staffing help during sequestration, NMA can assist your agency with recertifications (done remotely), quality control, outsourced hearing officer services (done remotely), HQS inspections, and more. Email sales@nanmckay.com for more information.
