Asset Management

The Seattle Housing Authority provides housing units or rent subsidies for over 24,500 low-income individuals. As one of the largest landlords in the state, SHA has a responsibility to its tenants and the greater community to manage and maintain its properties well, use its resources wisely and plan ahead to meet the changing needs of Seattle’s low-income residents. 

For SHA, “asset management” means using each property to its full potential to achieve our mission to enhance the Seattle community by creating and sustaining decent, safe and affordable living environments that foster stability and increase self-sufficiency for people with low incomes, while maintaining the overall financial health of the agency. In practice, asset management requires weaving together SHA’s mission and:

• Flexibility: to take advantage of new opportunities or address the consequences of changes in our funding or regulatory environment; and
   

• Sustainability: to ensure that SHA’s housing stock is available and affordable to low-income people for decades to come.

Moving to new Ways: SHA's annual planning process

Asset management is a way of doing business that guides decision-making throughout SHA, providing an integrated approach to all actions concerning our properties and other housing resources. The asset management approach has highlighted many areas where federal requirements inhibit SHA's ability to operate efficiently and serve the community effectively. Fortunately, SHA is one of about 30 housing authorities across the country participating in HUD's “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 (PDF, 1.78 MB).

• Each October during Moving to new Ways, SHA adopts an annual plan that describes activities planned for the following fiscal year and highlights MTW initiatives.  For a summary of this year's plan, click here.
   

• Each March, SHA prepares an annual report describing the previous fiscal year’s accomplishments.  To view this most recent annual report, click here.

Challenges 

• Most SHA-owned housing was built between 1939 and the mid-1980’s. Except for NewHolly, even the newest housing is now approaching 20 years old. The result is an aging portfolio with some functional obsolescence and large and escalating capital needs.
   

• SHA depends on federal funding to keep much of our housing affordable for extremely low income people.  In recent years, far-reaching new rules have been enacted and funding priorities have shifted. SHA is operating in an era of considerable uncertainty about future program requirements and funding levels.

Jefferson Terrace, SHA's oldest and largest public housing highrise, exemplifies SHA's asset management challenges.

• Among the thousands of people SHA serves are many seniors, children, people with disabilities, recent immigrants and refugees, families facing welfare time limits and people with low-wage jobs. Residents’ diversity presents many challenges, including keeping buildings and communities safe and comfortable for residents with diverse and sometimes incompatible lifestyles, and supplementing housing with effective services that enable residents to become as self-sufficient as possible.