With today’s housing shortage, providing affordable housing to low-income families is more important than ever. There may be plenty of qualified applicants, but there are also considerable challenges in keeping up with rising operational costs and program compliance requirements. Last month, the Insider conducted a survey of subscribers—assisted housing managers across the country—to find out about their toughest management challenges and biggest budget concerns.

Of the management challenges, complying with HUD regulations—specifically those related to HOTMA and NSPIRE—ranked highest. One respondent expressed frustration with “HUD requiring HOTMA implementation but providing no follow-through guidance.”

Survey respondents’ top budget concern may come as no surprise: Over 80 percent said that rising maintenance and repair costs give them their biggest headaches, and that they’re becoming more proactive about preventive maintenance. And rising contractor costs—the second top budget concern—only makes dealing with maintenance and repair problems that much more expensive. 

Not surprisingly, among the challenges relating to dealing with households, getting residents to report maintenance issues ranked second. The top challenge in that category, however, went to dealing with tenants’ mental health issues, such as hoarding and nuisance behavior. To help address this problem, 80 percent of respondents employ social service coordinators, and most respondents reported actively pursuing partnerships with social services agencies. Other services respondents are providing include senior programs and visiting health services (such as vaccinations), an amenity that may have gained popularity during the pandemic.

Top 5 Management Challenges

Survey respondents ranked the following problems highest on their list of challenges:

1. Complying with HUD regulations

2. Passing site inspections

3. Preventing crime/vandalism

4. Budgeting/financial management

5. Households underreporting income

Top 5 Compliance Challenges

Survey respondents ranked the following problems highest on their list of compliance challenges—either in understanding confusing rules or training staff:

1. HOTMA compliance

2. Staying on top of changes to HUD rules and regs

3. NSPIRE compliance

4. Fair Housing Act compliance

5. VAWA compliance

Top 5 Challenges in Dealing with Households

Survey respondents ranked the following problems highest on their list of challenges:

1. Tenants’ mental health issues (e.g., hoarding, nuisance behavior)

2. Unreported maintenance issues

3. Tenant-on-tenant harassment

4. Enforcing house rules

5. Drug use

Top 5 Budget Busters

What causes the biggest budgetary concerns at your site?

1. Rising maintenance and repair costs

2. Rising vendor/contractor costs

3. Rising insurance costs

4. Rising personnel costs

5. Reduced or delayed subsidy payments

Top Strategies to Tackle Problems

What are you doing to tackle the financial and operational problems at your site?

Percentage of Respondents Actively Pursuing the Following Strategies

Becoming more proactive about preventive maintenance           83%

Partnering with social services agencies                                     36%

Instituting “green” and energy-saving initiatives                          34%

Looking for better insurance coverage with lower premiums       16%

Upgrading security systems of hiring a security company             16%

Popular Services

Service                                                 Percent of Respondents

Senior programs                                                           100%

Visiting health services, e.g., flu shots                            80%

Social services coordinator                                            67%

Language education and/or translation services            50%

Shuttle bus service                                                        16%

Survey Respondents’ Profile

Location: Respondents represented the following regions of the country: Northeast (20%); Midwest (30%); Southeast (30%); Southwest (20%); and Northwest (0%). 

Program participation: By program, respondents participated in: Section 811 (67%); Section 202 (50%); Section 8 project-based voucher (50%); Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (30%); Rural Housing Section 515 (34%); and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (30%). Nearly half of the respondents managed sites that also have fair-market rentals.

Site size: By size of the sites respondents manage, 50% manage sites with two to four buildings; 30% manage sites with more than 10 buildings; 20% manage sites with only building.