2005 Moving To new Ways Annual Report

Seattle Housing is one of about 30 housing authorities across the country participating in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) “Moving To new Ways” (MTW) demonstration program. Under MTW, SHA has the opportunity to test innovative methods, improving housing to better meet local needs. In December 2005, the Board of Commissioners adopted Seattle Housing's fiscal year 2005 Moving To new Ways Annual Report, which summarizes the year's activities and accomplishments. Some of these activities and accomplishments are highlighted below.

People Served in 2005

• SHA housed 11,861 households, including people with Housing Choice Vouchers, those in public housing or residents in the Seattle Senior Housing Program. The number of people served by SHA slightly decreased from 12,027 households in 2004. This decrease is due to attrition in Housing Choice Voucher participants and the sale of Market House, which had 51 units, to another low-income housing provider.
   

• SHA's public housing program saw a net increase of 140 households due to the leasing of Othello Station at NewHolly.
   

• 11,074 households were on one or more wait lists for housing assistance at the end of the year.

2005 Initiatives

• The Job Connection, SHA's employment services program, placed 150 residents in jobs with an average hourly wage of $10.33. Eighty one percent of these positions were full-time and 63 percent had benefits.
   

• The rent policies and occupancy standards were changed in the Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs this year. The public housing rent policy changes were intended to strengthen self-sufficiency incentives and make the policies easier for residents to understand and simpler for staff to administer. SHA also updated the public housing lease and house rules. Changes in the Housing Choice Voucher program were intended to reduce the cost of each voucher to stretch federal funds to serve more households.
   

• Several technology initiatives were tested or implemented to improve service to residents and partner agencies. SHA began publishing PorchLight Insider, a bi-monthly e-newsletter created with service providers in mind. By the end of the year, it had 600 subscribers. An automated monthly check-in for applicants on the wait-list was tested and will likely be rolled out in 2006. SHA also rolled out a new high-tech billing system for water consumption at NewHolly, Rainier Vista and High Point to improve the accuracy and timeliness of residents' water bills.
   

• SHA's procurement policies changed to offer extra points for Section 3 businesses in the competitive process, which has helped streamline the federal prevailing wage rate administration.

Milestones in Community Revitalization

• homeWorks, SHA's high-rise revitalization project, achieved several major milestones this year. A program manager was hired, a design consultant was contracted for all three phases of the project, a general contractor was selected for the first phase and tax-credit investment proposals were received.
   

• SHA sold 64 Scattered-Sites units and purchased 40 two-, three- and four-bedroom units to replace those sold. Nine one-bedroom units were also purchased.
   

• The rehabilitation of the Ritz Apartments, 31 units of workforce housing in the Central Area, was completed. 
   

• Construction of rental housing and homes for sale continued at High Point, Rainier Vista and NewHolly. All of the rental housing at NewHolly and the first phase of Rainier Vista is now completed and leased. 

	The first rental units were completed and leased at High Point in 2005.		Private homebuilders continued to construct homes for sale at Othello Station in 2005.		Providence Health System's Gamelin House, offering 78 units of senior living, opened at Rainier Vista in 2005.

Housing Resources

During Fiscal Year 2005:

• SHA received funds for up to 448 more Housing Choice Vouchers from the federal government.
   

• One hundred and sixty-three new public housing rental units and 56 tax-credit units came on-line at Othello Station. One hundred and twenty-five new public housing rental units, 59 tax-credit rental units and 78 units of senior housing (Gamelin House) came on-line at Rainier Vista. Ninety-five rental units were completed at High Point.
   

• SHA continued to sell land to private builders to build homes for sale at NewHolly, Rainier Vista and High Point. In all, seven builders will construct about 360 homes for sale.

Performance Indicators

SHA met or exceeded goals for the performance indicators on which HUD rates housing authority performance:

• The vacancy percent in all low-income housing programs exceeded the performance goal of two percent: 1.83 percent in Public Housing; 1.36 percent in the Seattle Senior Housing Program and 0.97 percent in Section 8 New Construction (Bayview Tower).
   

• SHA responded within 30 days to 97.6 percent of routine requests for maintenance work, and within 24 hours to nearly 100 percent of emergency maintenance requests.
   

• SHA completed 2,930 comprehensive inspections in public housing and all scheduled critical item inspections in other units.
   

• SHA used approximately 99 percent of the funds available in the Housing Choice Voucher program. At the end of the year, the Housing Choice Voucher program 6,848 households were leasing from 2,500 landlords throughout the region. The Housing Choice Voucher program met or exceeded all its performance goals for property inspections.

For the complete text of the report in PDF format click here.

For the complete text of the report appendices in PDF format click here.  The appendices contain information on resident and applicant demographics, SHA financial reports, capital activities and building vacancy rates.  SHA's five-year strategic plan, Remaining Committed in Times of Change, and Recommendations from the Human Services Funding Strategic Plan Study, can also be found in the appendices. 

Each July during Moving To new Ways, SHA adopts an annual plan that describes activities planned for the following fiscal year. Click here for information on SHA's Fiscal Year 2006 Annual Moving to new Ways Plan.

For more information about SHA's annual report or the Moving To new Ways program, contact Andria Lazaga at alazaga@seattlehousing.org or (206) 615-3546.