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Managing a Section 8 Property

Managing a Section 8 Property

What are you supposed to do to “turn around a troubled Section 8 property?” Some people may not like my answer; however, since this is my forte, I will give you a succinct, straight forward answer – you can’t – UNLESS you are committed to doing what it takes. I feel strongly that just because you work on an income based property, there is no reason not to manage with pride and provide the best living experience for your residents. But it takes more than someone coming to work at eight o’clock each morning and running out the door at five o’clock each evening. I can tell you almost every project based Section 8 property struggles with discouraged management at one time or another. Until you can walk on that property at 8 AM ready to face whatever comes your way, then you aren’t approaching that property ready to do it justice.

 

My first Section 8 property (when I was hired it was because the manager  did not even know how to turn on her computer, much less master the newly installed property management accounting software program. She was an acquaintance of mine and recruited me) was rough with more than 300 police calls each month. The Manager’s office contained stacks and stacks of files in varying stages of recertification. Rent checks had not been input into Yardi for 3 months. I asked if the money had at least been taken to the bank? Some had, but not all of it had, evidenced by a stack of checks I found inside the bank bag.

 

I can say that after about two weeks, I knew the Manager did a terrible job of handling paperwork. She had no instincts in handling residents, their problems, their issues and the drama they all created. It wasn’t long when I was promoted.

 

Here is how to turn your property around:

  1. Hire someone who will take ownership of your property.
  2. Make sure this person understands it is not a 9-5 job.
  3. Train them properly on your property management software. If your Office team cannot comprehend how to utilize the system, then find a better teacher or get someone else.
  4. Send your team to earn their designations in affordable housing.
  5. Implement an effective Neighborhood Watch Program. Hold meetings. Cooperate with the Police. DEMAND bike patrols by uniformed officers on your property weather permitting.
  6. You must evaluate security on your property.
  7. You must evaluate your lighting in interior common halls and exterior buildings. I actually worked with the city’s electric utility department and they updated all the lighting in the parking lots at no cost to my company.
  8. You must respond to lockouts – not your maintenance team – the Manager must! After all, I wanted to know why they were locked out. I know this is a controversial approach, but I can tell you it cut down on a lot of property damage, a lot of  domestic violence calls and drug deals.
  9. Install No Trespassing and Loitering Is Not Permitted Signage on your property.
  10. You must provide an on site presence who is not afraid to ask visitors for ID and why they are on your property. Security guards that are off-duty cops are best. Even so, I oftentimes showed up between midnight and 6 AM while getting a handle on the “traffic” hanging out in the parking lots, etc. I did this for an entire year. After that, word was out that my property was not accessible.
  11. Provide activities for your younger residents. Afterschool clubs are GREAT. You might also host Boy Scouts and Girl Scout troop activities supervised by a staff member. I did this, plus we played whiffel ball and my cops played football with the children/teens. Do NOT install basketball hoops on site – tell them to do this somewhere else.
  12. Walk the Property everyday. At first, when I walked the property, I could literally hear phones ringing and people saying, “Manager’s walking. Mindy’s close!”
  13. Update your Resident Criteria. I dislike having to rent to people with no prior rental history because to me, this is code for “Mama wants the house back. You got to go get your own place!” If you must do so, make sure the credit requirement is sufficient. For some places, no credit established can prevent someone from qualifying to live at that property.
  14. Implement a Parking Pass Policy and ENFORCE it. One rule often overlooked is requiring Guests to display a Guest Pass hang tag. Make sure all Residents’ cars are registered and are registered to the actual Resident and NOT the Baby’s Daddy, a parent or someone else. Residents used to tell me they need the car and their boyfriend wouldn’t put the car in her name. I’d have the boyfriend come and in and tell him if he wants his child’s mother to have a car here, he can put her name on the registration. Many times, he did. Win-win.
  15. Communicate with your police officers. I set up a Substation in the outer office. Police did not have access to files, keys or anything confidential. They did have a nice bathroom to use and a kitchen, which I stocked with cookies, cool drinks, bottled water, chips and candy. I knew everyone’s favorites. I worked with the same 5 Officers. I also brought them in dinner monthly and it was a nice way to just relax.
  16. Communicate with Residents and enforce the Lease.
  17. Train the entire team to watch for signs of trouble: splintered door frames, people climbing up drain pipes to reach upper floors (Hello?); strangers standing around in doorways; maintenance should report what they see in units: drug paraphernalia out in the open (a lot of times seen on a coffee table!) and have the Manager inspect all units for housekeeping issues.
  18. Require that no aquariums are kept in the units (used to stash drugs).
  19. Evict those who are “not playing well with others.” No excuses. No exceptions.
  20. Do not allow residents to display items in windows. Often times this indicates when it is safe to come to the unit to “conduct business.”
  21. Boyfriends who spend the night all the time are really just freeloaders that you have allowed to reside at your property. Get a handle on this. I once had this young lady’s mother barge into the office yelling that I cannot tell her daughter that her boyfriend can’t visit. She actually told me her daughter “has to be able to get her freak on” and that was none of my business. J If taxpayers are footing the bill for her daughter’s rent then I have every right to know that her boyfriend is living with her. Otherwise they can go get an apartment at a Market Rate community (which they eventually did. No tears shed on my part.)
  22. Invest in some nice landscaping. Get rid of bushes that hide windows or create potentially unsafe places for criminals to hide behind. Plant flowers and hang baskets. Residents told me someone would steal my hanging baskets but no one ever did.
  23. Hold BBQs or cookouts every so often in the spring, summer and fall, if possible. Invite the community fire and police departments. Play games with the kids and SMILE at the Residents. Encourage relationships to develop. I can tell you once Residents see the evictions happen, that loitering and catcalls from balconies have stopped, and that children can actually play outside again, they will appreciate it.
  24. Be accessible. I can’t tell the number of times I have heard the most intimate details of people’s lives. The more I know the better able I am to direct them to people who can provide help. My seniors loved me because loneliness is the bane of society.
  25. Develop a data base of community resources: CPS; APS; Catholic Social Services, etc., plus HUD contacts who can help you when you have questions. Ideally you have a compliance department to assist you, but if you don’t, you need someone to help you navigate the ins and outs of section 8 paperwork.

It is a lot of work. It takes a dedicated person to invest himself to such an extent. It is a thankless job – be prepared for that. Over time though, you will see your property outshine even some market rate communities and one day someone will walk into your Office door thinking this is just a regular apartment community, not one that is income-based, and that is the greatest compliment of all.

 
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Awesome ideas Mindy!! It takes a ton of dedication from the mgmt team to get and keep a handle on these issues - but it does work! I worked on a Sec 8 property and it was the nicest property in the area. But upper mgmt has to back the plan and pay for someone to work tirelessly,and potentially put their well being at risk, to achieve these results. How do you suggest getting upper mgmt/owners (the money men) to pay the mgr salary needed to uphold these standards? Properties in this type of condition are usually failing in the rent dept and we often hear, "we don't have that kind of money to pay the salary, fund programs, etc." Kind of like "what comes first, the chicken or the egg?" situation.

  Laura Bruyere
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I'll be honest with you. Upper Management could not care less that the first day on the job as The Manager, someone wanted for murder put a gun to my head. They laughed about it. I was probably the lowest paid Manager in their whole portfolio (my RPM told me so.) But the first time one of the Seniors living there made her way into the office, walking slowly and deliberately with a cane, looking over her shoulder to report for her recert and asked me to help her back to her apartment because she was so afraid, I decided then and there I would do whatever it took to make this property safe.

The only help I sought was from the NET Officers. When our management company took over a couple of new properties and HUD changed the way we sent in for our monthly HAP Voucher payments to the TRACS system, I was the only one who got her property on line with the new system. No one figured it out and I am not sure how I figured it out either. I credit Divine Intervention. So, I ran all the TRACS for all the properties. The first month I did this, I was there until 11 PM. My office phone rang and it was a police officer asking if I was okay. When I left the Office 15 minutes later, the Officer came to my door, escorted me to my car, and had all property entrances/exits blocked - for my protection and told me to never work that late again.

I am a volunteer by nature. When I moved to that city, there were no paid art teachers in the system. Since that is what I used to do, I volunteered my expertise in the school system and taught K-6 for free, wrote grants to pay for materials, and did this until they implemented certified instructors into the system. I feel like the time I spent cleaning up the property was time well spent. I know people think I was crazy to do this. I accept that. The police officers and I worked so tightly together I was able to coordinate drug busts on site and went with all the Officers and federal marshalls when warrants were served.

I took risks....

I'll be honest with you. Upper Management could not care less that the first day on the job as The Manager, someone wanted for murder put a gun to my head. They laughed about it. I was probably the lowest paid Manager in their whole portfolio (my RPM told me so.) But the first time one of the Seniors living there made her way into the office, walking slowly and deliberately with a cane, looking over her shoulder to report for her recert and asked me to help her back to her apartment because she was so afraid, I decided then and there I would do whatever it took to make this property safe.

The only help I sought was from the NET Officers. When our management company took over a couple of new properties and HUD changed the way we sent in for our monthly HAP Voucher payments to the TRACS system, I was the only one who got her property on line with the new system. No one figured it out and I am not sure how I figured it out either. I credit Divine Intervention. So, I ran all the TRACS for all the properties. The first month I did this, I was there until 11 PM. My office phone rang and it was a police officer asking if I was okay. When I left the Office 15 minutes later, the Officer came to my door, escorted me to my car, and had all property entrances/exits blocked - for my protection and told me to never work that late again.

I am a volunteer by nature. When I moved to that city, there were no paid art teachers in the system. Since that is what I used to do, I volunteered my expertise in the school system and taught K-6 for free, wrote grants to pay for materials, and did this until they implemented certified instructors into the system. I feel like the time I spent cleaning up the property was time well spent. I know people think I was crazy to do this. I accept that. The police officers and I worked so tightly together I was able to coordinate drug busts on site and went with all the Officers and federal marshalls when warrants were served.

I took risks. However, I was relentless during budget prep to get the funding I needed for off duty officers to provide security. (I gave up Office personnel. Never Maintenance, but I reluctantly continued handling all the recerts, etc.) I secured grant funding for any and all safety programs I could find through HUD. I set up Neighborhood Watches. I worked with training the Maintenance Team to be the eyes and ears of the community, too, since they were in units doing repairs. I became a CASA, too. Therefore I had contacts within "The System" to ensure immediate action for endangered children. It took two years of this dedication before residents totally trusted me. Before long though the CEO and Owner of the property management company and I were able to talk together and he respected what I was trying to do and he supported my efforts (and why wouldn't he? His property stayed 100% occupied, the property had a lengthy Waiting List (finally) and he had me to do all the work.

I don't expect anyone to undertake this kind of job and do what I did/do. It is tiring. However, the rewards is immensely satisfying personally. Eventually, Upper management cannot ignore your results and then they have to support the initatives.

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  Mindy Sharp
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Managing a Sect. 8 property is a delicate balance. You need people with a heart and a backbone. Getting the kids involved is so important! Most offices have cookies to offer prospects so on Fridays we would bake extras and the kids came in off the bus to get them. We learned their names, about their parents, teachers, and school work. It also helped to form a certain level of trust between us. Often times the kids see more than you think and can be a great source of information. On report card day those with all passing grades got special treats, usually just ice-cream or other snacks. It didn’t cost a lot but it let them know we were involved. And don’t think for a minute that these were just elementary and middle school students, my big bad high school kids wanted their treats too! (We once had an issue with kids walking 6-8 across the street backing up traffic. I got the call and decided to take a drive around myself. You better beleive once they saw "Miss Stephani's" car the got out of they way. They also begged me not to tell on them.) These kids always spoke respectfully to me as I treated them with respect too. Many times I would call them out for the way they spoke to their Mom, but that's a whole other issue.
Many communities have organizations that work with apartments through the local police dept. One of the first things I did was become a board member on our association. This gave me a wealth of knowledge as well as tons of contacts within the community. I've since moved on from that community but I'm still on the board. It's amazing to see that the vast majority of managers who show up to our quarterly meetings are from low crime communities. Those in high crime areas claim to be too busy. Is it a coincidence that the managers that put the effort into being involved have fewer crimes? I don't think so. We are all busy, but sometimes we are too busy being busy.
On landscaping; I always suggest putting the prickliest shrubs you can find close to...

Managing a Sect. 8 property is a delicate balance. You need people with a heart and a backbone. Getting the kids involved is so important! Most offices have cookies to offer prospects so on Fridays we would bake extras and the kids came in off the bus to get them. We learned their names, about their parents, teachers, and school work. It also helped to form a certain level of trust between us. Often times the kids see more than you think and can be a great source of information. On report card day those with all passing grades got special treats, usually just ice-cream or other snacks. It didn’t cost a lot but it let them know we were involved. And don’t think for a minute that these were just elementary and middle school students, my big bad high school kids wanted their treats too! (We once had an issue with kids walking 6-8 across the street backing up traffic. I got the call and decided to take a drive around myself. You better beleive once they saw "Miss Stephani's" car the got out of they way. They also begged me not to tell on them.) These kids always spoke respectfully to me as I treated them with respect too. Many times I would call them out for the way they spoke to their Mom, but that's a whole other issue.
Many communities have organizations that work with apartments through the local police dept. One of the first things I did was become a board member on our association. This gave me a wealth of knowledge as well as tons of contacts within the community. I've since moved on from that community but I'm still on the board. It's amazing to see that the vast majority of managers who show up to our quarterly meetings are from low crime communities. Those in high crime areas claim to be too busy. Is it a coincidence that the managers that put the effort into being involved have fewer crimes? I don't think so. We are all busy, but sometimes we are too busy being busy.
On landscaping; I always suggest putting the prickliest shrubs you can find close to the buildings. They make for really uncomfortable hiding places. Also many police departments have someone certified in CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design). These officers will come out to your community for free and tell you what can be done landscaping wise to help reduce crime. Our police dept requires new recruits to have some knowledge of CPTED so every 6 months I have a group of officers in training tour my community as an example of what landscaping can do to make their jobs easier. Sometimes I don't feel like upper management sees the value in getting involved with local organizations, but they aren’t the ones residents rely on to provide them with a safe home.
Thanks Mindy for the great blog. I personally think everyone should have to work a tough property at the beginning of their career. If you can make it on a hard case sight you can make it anywhere!

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  Stephani Fowler
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Good ideas, Stephani! I ran a conventional property at the same time as this Section 8 property - I agree, if you can successfully work a tough property, it will teach you everything you never wanted to know, maybe, but it will help you develop the strengths you need moving forward, wherever you go. Plus, that kind of property gives you enough stories to write a best seller!

  Mindy Sharp
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I like your post as well; my last 2 properties were TAX CREDIT. The first property was a new lease up with very specific qualifications:

1) Applicants had to have a verifiable disability (physical, mental, or addiction)
2) Applicants had to have faced chronic homelessness (they were coming from local shelters and informal tent cities)
3) Applicants could not exceed $18k per year in income (some were zero income).

I did the entire lease up for initial occupancy (80 units) as the Assistant manager.

My next property was also Tax Credit, but when I walked in there were a lot of problems:

1) Vacancy was 17 units of 66, which increased to as many as 25 at one point (I had to welcome many people to leave, and some left on their own for various reasons).
2) Delinquency was more than $13k
3) I had as much as $100k in unpaid payables (in the system for payment, but not paid by corporate). Because of this, many vendors would not talk to me and I could not even turn the vacant units.
4) Property was undergoing a property wide bed bug treatment.


When I left:
1) Vacancy was down to 3 (and held 95% for several weeks)
2) Delinquency was down to less than $1000
3) More than 30 units were turned, some more problematic than others.
4) More than 40 move ins were completed

It did not hurt that 90 days after my original hire, the owner fired the company that hired me and brought a new company in.

I am actually now seeking a new challenge; and prior to my Assistant Manager position, I had no tax credit experience (I have since earned tax credit certification). The only thing I am missing is project based section 8 experience.

Anyone know of any opportunities in Sacramento area?

  Johnny Karnofsky
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I wish I knew of something, Johnny, but I haven't been in the california market in forever it seems. You have a lot of good ideas and seem to be a take-charge kind of person, which is what all Managers need to be. Did you post your resume on here?

  Mindy Sharp
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Of course I did; I am also on LinkedIn, BranchOut, and BeKnown.

Any ideas on getting Certified Occupancy Specialist? Not even sure what advantages that would give me.

  Johnny Karnofsky
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I don't know where you get that training in your state. I went through a 3-day course with an open book test on the last day. I know you have said that you want an on-line course and my state has never offered this designation in an on-line format that I know of.

I definitely think the training I received was excellent. I had no problems passing the test. A year or so after earning the designation I went full on into conventional housing. When I returned briefly to help out another failing community that had units totally project-based, another 15% accepting HCV and the rest Market, it was like riding a bike and it all came back to me. I was rusty but not overwhelmed. If you obtain your COS, you could easily get your foot into the door of any Housing Authority that may be hiring. You will also be marketable if you are willing to relocate.

  Mindy Sharp
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WOW Mindy, You took the words right out of my mouth.:)

  Denise Mays
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Mindy thank you so much for this post! I shared it tonight with my Security Officers while we were out on the property and they said that it was like we were chaneling each other. I would love to speak to you some more about areas where I can improve on how I'm handeling my property. It is a Section 42 with a really bad reputation. Many of the things you have mention are things that I'm already doing or putting in place. Thank you for being so awesome to write this awesome piece!

  Jolene Sopalski
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