Asset Management Support to Gary Housing Authority | HCV and Affordable Housing Leadership | PMW Management Partners, Inc.

Gary Housing Authority (GHA) was designated Troubled on August 20, 2003, with the agency entering into administrative receivership in June 2013. HUD initially designated Econometrica to provide financial management TA based on the following failings of GHA’s financial oversight and operations. For three fiscal years, GHA received a zero (0) score for financial management under the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) due to receiving disclaimed audit opinions from Independent Public Accountant auditors each year. As of October 2014, there were no employees in the financial operations who were experienced and capable of completing the required fiscal year-end closing processes, including preparation of the Financial Data Schedule and 2014 fiscal year-end audit. There were no financial policies and procedures, no leadership capable of giving direction to staff or engaging in executive planning and budgeting. GHA also had a growing backlog of unpaid invoices and credit relationships were severely damaged due to nonpayment.

Although, HUD had already identified the need for significant financial management technical assistance the Econometrica team, comprised of Paul Watkins and Jeffrey Bennett began our work with our own assessment of needs. We conducted remote and onsite needs assessment by securing the previous two years monthly financial reports that were available and current Tenant Account Receivables (TARs) reports, invoice ageing reports, rent rolls, operating and capital fund budgets and utility allowance data to review and validate the unaudited Financial Data Submission (FDS) and financial reports status.

Following departure of the Contract ED, Econometrica’s initial work plan was then expanded to include the provision of TA for the Asset Management Division of GHA, specifically agency-wide coordination, capacity building and information management and reporting solutions to improve performance of GHA property and maintenance operations as measured by occupancy, unit turn-around times, work-order completion times, and REAC Scores. With an occupancy rate in the low 70s, GHA had not passed REAC inspections in over 10 years and had tenants living in demolition-approved units for over 6 months with no plan for relocation.

These issues were identified in part as the result of the HUD Quality Assurance Subsystem (QASS) team assessment which preceded the request for TA from HUD. However, once on site Econometrica quickly identified additional needs and capacity gaps. Identification of these needs and capacity gaps were discovered through a systematic approach of data collection and staff interviews. Data collection and staff interviews are a standard process Econometrica employs on all its assignments to become more familiar with the challenges the client has expressed, uncover potential issues that the client is unaware of and to understand the additional staff capacity gaps that exist which are not always apparent at initial engagement. While our team of subject matter experts and project manager are continuously uncovering capacity gaps throughout the TA assignment, the initial TA involved a two-week review of all areas of asset management and finance. Two Property Management SMEs, two Maintenance Management SMEs and 1 Asset Management SME along with the Financial Management SME and the PM were assembled to spend time in the field with their GHA counterparts to truly understand the issues employees were struggling with on a daily basis. The PM and SME’s spent late afternoons and evenings collectively devising a plan to implement the needed TA. In a coordinated manner to address both the organizational culture and technical capacity gaps that were uncovered.

The performance measures used to evaluate Econometrica’s effectiveness coincide with the outcomes achieved throughout the delivery of TA and served as milestones on the path to recovery for GHA. The internal performance measures were as follows:

These measures and accomplishments made a significant impact on the financial and asset management operations of GHA; moreover, the training and other efforts by Econometrica to enhance GHA staff capacity to be able to assume and sustain many of the mid-level responsibilities have been substantial. Econometrica worked with GHA staff to increase competence and confidence in their ability to plan and coordinate future tasks and agency goals while maintaining a satisfactory level of accomplishment in their daily responsibilities. This success transformed the organizational culture of GHA in a positive way and instilled a spirit of excellence in the way GHA staff managed its business.