Housing Authority Budget Trimmed By $3M

The Housing Authority of New Haven will operate on a slightly smaller budget in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, as it preps for less federal funding for a key low-income housing program.

That was the upshot of a new annual $83.6 million budget approved by the HANH Board of Commissioners Tuesday at their regular monthly meeting. The budget covers the authority’s operating and capital program expenses through Sept. 30, 2016. Commissioners approved a budget last year that was about $86 million.

Housing authority CFO Diana Smith said that so far this year’s expenses for the authority, which provides affordable housing for more than 1,900 low- and middle-income families in the Elm City, have come in at about $85 million. But she also pointed out that the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, is not over.

By then, the authority should know how many of its employees will accept early retirement buyouts that commissioners approved last month in anticipation of the reduction in federal funding. Employees with at least one year of service have the option of taking an early retirement package. But they must accept the buyout by the end of the September, and they must be prepared to leave the agency by the end of the year. (Read more about that here).

The newly approved budget reflects an anticipated loss of about $11.3 million in U.S. Housing and Urban Development ​“Moving to Work” program funds, but also cost savings that the agency is seeking as those funds continue to be reduced through 2019, according to Smith.

Smith reported to the board that in addition to an anticipated $1 million savings from the early retirements, the authority will not replace vacated position as it ​“re-thinks the structure” of the organization. The authority also is reducing its material procurement; hiring an in-house plumber instead of contracting out such services; moving to a lower cost structure for social services; and reducing the number of outside consultants. The authority is looking as well for new strategies for generating money from private and public sources to replace lost HUD money.

Elm City Communities Reboots

Many of the cost-saving measures, particularly restructuring of the authority and the increased emphasis on raising money, are in line with a new strategic plan that also was unveiled and approved by the commissioners Tuesday.

HANH Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton (pictured) said the strategic plan is intended to be ​“a living document” that will guide the work of the authority over the next three years.

The plan focuses on four areas or ​“pillars” which include: ensuring organizational stability; reorganizing the authority from two related entities (HANH and Glendower Group Inc., its development arm) to four with two new, separate entities created for taking on property management and social services; building organizational capacity through investments in staff and technology; amplifying HANH’s advocacy position on affordable housing issues; and deepening its community relationships and ties to anti-poverty work. (Click here for a story about how HANH has agreed to relocate families form Church Street South for the landlord there, Northland Investment Corp.)

A Rochester, N.Y.-based consultant called CGR created the plan after conducting several site visits, holding meetings with a variety of people inside and outside HANH, surveys of staff and residents, and a two-day planning retreat.

Commissioner Ed Joyner asked about ​“restraining forces” that the authority might face. CGR Associate Principal Paul Bishop said the most immediate one is related to the coming changes in HUD funding and finding ways to mitigate that by strengthening current revenue streams and developing others.

In addition to restructuring in ways that position them to accept private foundation and public grant funds, Bishop said some housing authorities have found ways to lease space and even allow advertising to generate income. The strategic plan calls for HANH to develop a business model for selling professional services; develop a private donors fundraising plan; and seek opportunities for commercial leasing and management of non-authority properties.