2005 Moving To new Ways Annual Plan

The Board of Commissioners adopted the Seattle Housing Authority's fiscal year 2005 plan in July 2004. Below are excerpts from the draft Executive Summary.  

Executive Summary

The Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) 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. This program allows SHA to test innovative methods to improve housing delivery to better meet local needs. While in MTW, SHA may propose and implement alter­natives to national regulations for issues spelled out in an agreement signed by SHA and HUD in January 1999. Fiscal year 2005 will be SHA’s sixth year in MTW. 

Each July, SHA adopts an annual plan that describes activities planned for the following fiscal year and highlights MTW initiatives. Each December, SHA prepares an annual report describing the previous fiscal year’s accomplishments. 

Stakeholder involvement   

As part of developing the MTW Plan, SHA provides residents and others opportunities to review and comment on a draft plan. JPAC, a body of resident representatives that advises SHA on policy issues, discussed major plan activities on June 7, 2004. About 30 residents were present. Issues discussed included public housing rent policy, scattered sites portfolio reconfiguration, the public housing high-rise renovation program, the designation of Ballard House for elderly and the status of various community redevelopment projects. About 40 people attended a public hearing on the plan and annual agency budget on June 15, 2004. Click here for a summary of that meeting.  

Moving To new Ways priorities for FY 2005   

SHA’s MTW Agreement with HUD contains a specific list of activities for which SHA may exercise its MTW flexibility. In FY 2005, SHA will pursue the following MTW activities:

• Evaluate the public housing rent policy for households with income from employment or TANF and perhaps propose changes that maintain incentives for employment but that are easier to understand and result in less foregone revenue for SHA.
   

• Conduct affirmative fair marketing and improve tracking of resident ethnicity to complete implementation of the applicant choice policy.
   

• Establish site-based wait lists for Rainier Vista and High Point.
   

• Implement the designation of Ballard House as a senior community for low-income people.  No current Ballard House residents will be required to move.  New people who move in will be 62 years of age or older.
   

• Implement an updated Action Plan for the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, involve a Program Coordinating Committee of outside advisers, and use staff time more effectively to support FSS participants to achieve their goals.
   

• Work with HUD to streamline a variety of administrative matters in procurement, property disposition and development.

Meeting Seattle’s housing needs

• Look for nearby replacement sites for Holly Court, so that this poorly-designed and -constructed public housing community may one day be redeveloped.
   

• Continue reconfiguration of the scattered sites portfolio through disposition and acquisition of replacement units.
   

• Plan for: improvements in marketability, security and building systems at Jefferson Terrace; redesign of the first floor and entry plaza of Bell Tower; possible expansion of Leschi House; and redevelopment of the Lake City Village site and adjacent property.
   

• Continue to meet off-site replacement housing obligations for Rainier Vista (15 units) and scattered sites (as many units as are sold).

Community revitalization activities

• Continue the redevelopment of NewHolly, Rainier Vista and High Point. 
   

• Carry out a capital program involving bond-financed projects to renovate 17 or more public housing high-rises, including comprehensive rehabilitation of building systems and common areas.
   

• Begin planning for the redevelopment of Yesler Terrace.

Meeting the needs of residents and applicants

• Apply for Housing Choice Vouchers at every opportunity.
   

• Building on the successful lease-up of Tri-Court, add a second smoke-free building to provide neighborhood choice. Coordi­nate with the public housing high-rise renovation program.
   

• Address long-term financial sustain­ability of community and supportive services.
   

• Expand the successful mental health crisis intervention and case management program in the public housing high-rises.
   

• Continue to strengthen programs that give SHA residents access to computers and the Internet including the Yesler Computer Lab, the STAR Center, and the computer labs at High Point and NewHolly, in partnership with other agencies.
   

• Maintain the highest possible level of employment services for SHA residents and Housing Choice Voucher participants.
   

• Implement the Community Service Requirement per QHWRA.

Organizational improvements

• Continue implementation of Protégé @ work, a document imaging project to improve productivity and streamline administration.
   

• Improve communication with a wide variety of stakeholders including residents, other government agencies, the media and the general public.
   

• Take action based on consultant recommendations to clarify the purpose and roles of SHA as a whole and its various components: PorchLight, Impact Property Services, Impact Property Management, Seattle Senior Housing Program and other programs.
   

• For the FY 2006 budget, and sooner if possible, implement recommendations from a study of overhead cost allocation method for centralized services – such as finance or legal – to develop a system that allocates costs to different housing programs to more closely match the benefit of each service to each program. The study will be done in late FY 2004 or early FY 2005.
   

• Develop new performance indicators to track the effects of reorganization in the Housing Choice Voucher program.
   

• Continue to clarify and update the Policy and Procedures Manual and the Section 8 Administrative Plan as needed.

For the full text of the plan in PDF format, click here.

For plan appendices with information about resident demographics, SHA's capital program, FY 2003 budget and expenditures, FY 2003 vacancy rates, and a listing of supportive services, click here.

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