Sept 2008 E-Newsletter DRAFT 7 09 29 2008 - HUD

A S S E T M A N A G E M E N T E -N E W S L E T T E RIs su e 15 – Se ptem be r 2 008navigation, visual design and general feel of theInside this Issuesystem. .The Department has also published recentPHA Spotlight: County of Monterey Housing Guidance on Requesting Subsidy for New UnitsExplanation of Fourth and Final Funding frequently asked questions (FAQs) that weregenerated during the live “electronic-chalkboard”training on the new FDS that was conducted onImportance of EIV ReportsAugust 27, 2008.AMP Physical InspectionsAsset Management Help Desk: A List of QuestionsPHAs can access these FAQshere.(The Department would also like to expressUpcoming Dates on the Asset Management What’s New on the Website?its regrets, again, for the technical difficultiesResources and Useful Linksexperience during this training. All PHAs thatattempted to participate in that training areencouraged to view new FDS navigation trainingFDSPreviewNavigationand Training FAQs NowAvailableAspartofYear 3 Stop-Loss SubmissionsOnSeptember1,2008,the Departmentassethasbeenissued guidance to PHAs that have submitteddeveloping a new template for the Financial Dataeither the Year 1 or Year 2 Stop-Loss applicationSchedule (FDS). PHAs can now obtain a previewand have not received notification of approval orof the new FDS, along with new navigation tools,denial from HUD.theconversionSupplemental Information Regardingtomanagement,thethat is referenced in the previous paragraph.) Departmentby viewing the following demonstration here.The Department plans to mail approval/denialThe preview demonstration walks the userthrough the new system simulating the necessarysteps to complete an FDS submission.Thisreview will be of particular interest to PHAs thatletters for all Year 1 submissions by September30, 2008. All Year 2 submissions will be notifiedof their approval/denial by December 31, 2008.ForPHAsthathavealreadysubmittedhave implemented fee-for-service and need toabbreviated Year 2 applications and have notsubmit this information to FASS-PH for the firstreceived notification of their Year 1 application,time. The demonstration discusses how to enterno additional information is required for Year 3.financial data by project, for the COCC andFor additional details, including information onelimination column.PHAs that have applied only in Year 2, pleaseFinally, the demonstrationwill give users a first look (or preview) at screenContinued on next Column refer to the guidance. Continued on page 2

Page 2ASSET MANAGEMENT e-NEWSLETTERPHA Spotlight: Housing Authority ofthe County of Monterey, CaliforniaThis edition’s Spotlightfeaturesa“large”PHAthat has just ngaccounting–theHousing Authority of the County of Monterey(HACM) in Salinas, CA. The Spotlight spoke withHACM’s Director of Housing Management, JeanGoebel, about its experience with the conversionto asset management.What is the size and makeupoftheHACM’sportfolio?We operate quite a mix ofhousing. In addition to 615units of Public Housing, wehave 3,874 Housing ChoiceVoucher units. We manageover 130 units of housing forthe State of California, ofwhich 82 are housing forseasonalmigrantfarmworkers. We have 56 transitional housing unitsunder the CPD-Homeless Continuum of CareSupportive Housing Program and 204 units underthe HOME Layering Project. We chargedmanagement fees to these properties that wemanaged for another owner.What impact did the conversion to assetmanagement have on your diverse portfolioof affordable housing?The conversionminimal impactprojects. Becausea version of assethousing projectstransition to assetto asset management hadon our affordable housingwe were already implementingmanagement for the affordablewe own or manage, themanagement was made easier.Continued on next Column Howareorganized?yourPublicHousingunitsWe have divided our 615 public housing units into11 AMPs, which, of course, means that there aremany “small” projects. The majority of theseunits are in the city of Salinas, the largest city inthe county. Two of the projects are elderly andthe remaining nine are family units. Within thenext year, we will dispose of one of our familyprojects.Tell us about this disposition.We have arranged a land-swap with the City ofGonzales. They wanted the land to build acommunity center next to the elementary schooland high school. In return, they offered us alarger piece of land on which we have built 44units, thus doubling our number of affordableunits. The residents are excited and pleased sincetheir property is 50 years old and has reachedthe end of its useful life. With thenewly built property, the residentswill have modernized units thathave more space and a communityroom. The property is also a goodlocation for families, since it isclose to several stores.Does HACM assign a managerfor each of its Public Housingprojects?No. Because the average size ofour Public Housing projects isunder 60 units, it would not befeasible to assign a full-time manager to eachproject. Instead, we use a “shared resource”arrangement, wherein the manager might beassigned several projects within a definedgeographical area. Moreover, because we havesuch a diverse portfolio, our housing managersmay be responsible for both Public Housing andother affordable housing projects. Still, we arevery much “site-based” in that the managers arelargelyresponsiblefortheday-to-daymanagement of their projects.How did you organize your maintenanceservices?As with the housing managers, we try to assignmaintenance staff to a specific project; however,if a project is too small to afford a full-timeworker, he/she may be shared across two orContinued on page 3

ASSET MANAGEMENT e-NEWSLETTERmore projects. We also maintain an emergencymaintenance van that services all the projects,with the cost charged to each project based onwork orders.We also have some floatingmaintenance personnel who fill in duringvacations or sick leave or if there happens to be alot of work in one site or an emergency thatrequires extra staff.What areas do you charge a fee-for-service?Fee-for-service is charged for emergencymaintenance, vacancy turnover, eligibility andwaiting list, and unit inspections.Your first full year of project-basedbudgeting and accounting ended 6/30/08.Lookingback,whatchanges would you havemade?We always had project-basedbudgeting and project-basedreporting, so the transitionhad minimal impact in thoseprocesses. Knowing what weknow now after a year ofasset management, we wouldhave accelerated the stafftraining process. We startedthetransitiontoassetmanagement three years ago, about the timethat HUD published the Final Rule on theOperating Fund Program. In the early stages ofour transition, we spent a lot of time determiningwhether staff could be retrained to do differentfunctions. Our struggles have not been whetherstaff had the ability to do different types ofprograms; instead, we struggled with broadeningstaff skill sets to make decisions and take onadditional responsibilities in new areas, such ascontracting and managing maintenance staff.Also, it was tough keeping up with HUD’s evolvingguidance, particularly over what is a site expenseand what the COCC can charge projects directly,which made it difficult to frame training and makeneeded organizational decisions, especially giventhe nature of our stock. Our transition has takentime because we want to make every effort toretain staff, minimize any lay-offs, and re-trainthem to put them in a different position withinthe agency.Continued on next Column Page 3With regard to management fees, did youcharge the normal management fees or didyou choose either the phase-in approach orthe allocated overhead approach?Because of our experience with our affordablehousing projects, where we charge managementfees, we never really considered maintaining theallocated overhead method. So, it was just aquestion of whether we would charge the normalmanagement fees or go with the phased-in feeapproach. When we looked at what we needed tosupport the central office, we saw that, initially,we were only a few dollars PUM higher than thenormal fees. Therefore, we decided not to use thephase-in approach and instead simply charge thenormal fees.Were there significant changesto on-site staff responsibilitiesas a result of conversion toasset management?There were changes and we arestill implementing some of thosechanges. The changes includeadding a waiting list and eligibilityfunctions for some projects. Inaddition, there were changes ,workorder processing and purchasing. Our staffneeded additional training as a result of thesechanges.What specific training areas do you feelwere most important?Budget management, procurement, maintenancemanagement and supervision of subordinate staffare all critical areas in making the transitionsuccessful. We have utilized local trainingavailable at NAHRO conferences that focus onasset and real estate management. We have alsoparticipated in maintenance training from localvendors.Did HACM encounter any challenges in itsconversion to asset management?We were doing a software conversion at the sametime that we were converting to assetmanagement. It was difficult in that the staff hadto learn different responsibilities at the same timeContinued on page 4