It was going to be beautiful weather and this elderly grandmother from the Detroit area was looking forward to applying for a coveted spot on the Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher Wait List. Wheelchair bound, she understood she would have to arrive early and remain patient. However, nothing prepared her for what happened once the doors opened at an off-site location.

What happens when an organization has not opened its Wait List for almost nine years? What happens when those who are supposed to be working the lines, has never done so before because the Wait List has always been closed? What happens when you ask the local apartment communities who administer their own in-house Section 8 housing to pass out a Flyer announcing the Wait List will open at 8:00 AM on a Saturday, that people who arrive early may bring their own chairs to sit in as they secure their place in line, and that you sorely underestimate the number of families and individuals who will simply show up?

Mass chaos results. In fact, the word RIOT was used by the local media covering the event. On that day, no one from the Housing Commissioner’s office expected the more than estimated four thousand people to come, some as early as four o’clock in the morning. Others arrived only to observe the huge number of those already there and STILL took their places in a line that wound its way throughout the parking lot and sidewalks and all the way down the street. The workers looked at the window of the door and grew worried. They called for police to help with crowd control. It was too little too late and before the workers could even really assist anyone, fights broke out and the Michigan State Police were called in to break up the massive numbers of people and send people home. What could have been a successful start of a complicated housing journey for some very caring and mindful residents became a nightmare.

Perhaps this was the result of people who didn’t know what they didn’t know. It is not a good excuse however, because it is our responsibility to create a plan that produces the desired result in the best way possible. It does take careful planning, especially in the affordable housing industry. In my mind, this was the perfect opportunity to create a Marketing Plan for this event. Marketing plays a front-and-center role in your organization’s development. All businesses must embrace the concept that good outcomes start with a focused marketing plan.

The following things could be implemented to minimize the problems and present a great experience for those participants. Many housing developments work from a Wait List. HUD recognizes and creates guidelines for the operation of a Wait List. It’s simple: to build your Wait List, you accept applications on certain days at certain times. If the Wait List becomes so long that it is not reasonable that those at the end of the list will ever move into a position where their application will be considered and processed, then you close the List. Any time a Wait List is opened or closed, it must be published. Generally, this means that if it will be five years or longer before the last Applicant will be processed, then it is deemed justifiable to close the Wait List. From that point on, you work from the List until such time that more openings are expected to occur or more Vouchers will be issued and open the list accordingly.

When the decision is made to re-open your Wait List, you should consider three things: a date to open the List and how applications will be accepted; how to advertise that the list is opening; finally, crowd control. If any of these items are left out of the planning stage, you are sunk, as they quickly discovered in Michigan.

Try:

1. “Advertise” the Opening of the Wait List in newspaper(s) and on your website only. Limiting the notice to published venues may help control the number of people to expect on the day you accept Applications.
2. The Announcement should specify when, where, and any limitations, such as the number of Vouchers available for distribution. If you only have 100 Housing Choice Vouchers available, it will be a disaster if folks don’t understand this fact from the get-go. List all items applicants need to bring with them in order to apply for a place on the Wait List. Stress the fact that those coming will NOT be given a Voucher that day; they are only applying for a chance to receive one.
3. Select the location where you will accept applications carefully. If your business is very small, consider moving the site to some other place that has large open floor space where cubicles can be set up. Have several people ready to assist clients. Have the first point of contact be one who will give out the application to the client and send that client to a cubicle.
4. Each cubicle should have the necessary verification forms for clients to sign and a copier to copy the required documents each applicant will be supplying for the application.
5. Enlist the support of the local police department. Hire off-duty police officers as security guards. You will need more than one or two!
6. Train the workers on how to deal with clients coming in to apply. Some may need help in reading and writing. You must accommodate those needs.
7. You might consider using a Priority Preference ordering system for all applications received. For example, the Housing Choice Voucher Program allows those recipients to “port” their vouchers once they have lived in the jurisdiction of the origin of the Voucher for at least one year, so you can assign a number value of 1 for those who live in the same county where the voucher is issued; 2 for elderly or disabled household and a 3 for those who have children.
8. Finally, you should consider moving the application process to include accepting on line applications as well.

I think poor planning will attract negative outcomes. All of the above actions are part of a comprehensive marketing plan, and even if your company’s primary focus is affordable housing, marketing is absolutely a valuable piece of your overall success. Creating a marketing plan will eliminate time wasters, drains on energy and resources, and it will reinforce your reputation as an efficient, compassionate organization. Planning your marketing strategy will allow easy execution of your overall goals.