five steps - yardi systems inc

YARDI AFFORDABLE HOUSING EBOOK

TO REVOLUTIONIZE AFFORDABLE HOUSING APPLICATIONS AND COMPLIANCE WORKFLOWS

FIVE S TEPS


What does your current compliance workflow look like?

Do you spend countless staff hours processing paper applications to fill units?

What if you could eliminate long staff hours, expensive document storage, potential fair housing litigation and undesirable audit findings?


AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The affordable housing and PHA space has changed. Online solutions are now available to provide applicants with everything they need to qualify for a unit without having to step foot in the leasing office. Applicants can apply for housing from any web-connected device – be it a kiosk in your office, their personal computer at home or even a mobile phone or tablet. And that’s just the applicant perks – leasing staff also benefit. Are you ready to get started?

Benefits of online applications for affordable housing:

• Less paperwork to process

• Complete, easy to read applicant responses

• Fewer meetings to schedule

• More time to spend with current residents

• More confidence in program compliance

• Easier audits with fewer findings


FIVE STEPS TO REVOLUTIONIZE AFFORDABLE HOUSING APPLICATIONS:01. Help applicants easily find the right unit

02. Streamline intake data

03. Reap the benefits of going paperless

04. Maintain healthy relationships

05. Breeze through audits


01

HELP APPLICANTS EASILY FIND THE RIGHT UNIT

Can your website quickly direct users to affordable housing properties or market rate units based on their income? With minimal data input, online housing applications can take user income data and show just the units that work for them.

A self-guided online process eliminates the need to publicly post income and asset limits, which often confuse applicants.

It’s a great way to:

• Screen applicants early

• Avoid confusion

• Reduce phone calls to your office

Read how it works on the next page


EX AMPLE:

The Jones Family

A family of four is looking for an apartment. They log into your website and enter their income, number of people in the household and other basic qualifying data.

If the household’s income exceeds limits, the applicant would only see market rate properties.

If the household appears to fit subsidized housing units, the user is directed to view properties within that portion of your portfolio.


02

STREAMLINE INTAKE DATA ENTRYOnce directed to a property that matches their stated income, users can complete and submit their entire application. They can scan bank statements, paycheck stubs, identification documents and other required documentation. What was once a complex, time-consuming process is simplified into an applicant-driven, step-by-step, intuitive workflow.


34% of RENTCafé Affordable Housing users complete their applications after 5 p.m. and before 8 a.m. local time

(based on 2020 usage data)

This self-service intake process provides multiple benefits:

• 24/7 access for applicants, and no need to set an appointment with staff

• Support for hundreds of languages without need for a staff translator

• Applicants cannot be coached to answer questions a certain way or feel pressured to choose a property in one community or another

Why is that important?

Fair housing investigations and potential penalties are expensive. Electronic housing applications are a great way to prevent those costs.

Read how it works on the next page.

02. STREAMLINE INTAKE DATA ENTRY


02. STREAMLINE INTAKE DATA ENTRY

Resolving Fair Housing Complaints Before They Happen

One of the most common ways housing providers run into fair housing complaints is by conducting inconsistent applicant intake interviews. Whether inadvertently or on purpose, a household may be treated unfairly when a housing specialist directs them to apply for one property over another based on personal perception of the applicant.

Online applications provide every user a consistent and objective experience. Integrated translation services even remove the language barrier for non-English speakers which expands access to a new audience and helps eliminate the risk of your staff being misunderstood.


03

REAP THE BENEFITS OF GOING PAPERLESS

Affordable housing staff benefit from online applications just as much as applicants.


03. REAP THE BENEFITS OF GOING PAPERLESS

Funneling all application materials into a single, online interface puts all data and documentation into an easily accessible location. Compliance specialists can review, verify and approve applications with fast, secure digital access to all documents. If application information is missing or inaccurate, staff can quickly reject a submission and notify the applicant via email that follow-up work is needed. There’s no need to write a letter, stuff an envelope or purchase postage.

Paperless transactions include:

• Employment and wage verifications

• Bank statement reviews

• Student status confirmation

• Documentation of previous housing assistance

Read how one company made the switch to online applications on the next page.


NICK STRZELEC Property Technical Analyst, Pinnacle Property Management Services, LLC

Get inspired by reading Pinnacle’s success story here.

Going paperless has eliminated incomplete applications from our inbox. 100% of the applications we receive online are complete and ready to review. That saves us a lot of staff hours.

Online Applications Save Time for Pinnacle

http://www.yardi.com/about-us/success-stories/pinnacle-on-rentcafe-affordable-housing/?cat=residential&bg=3


04

MAINTAIN HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

Electronic applications are a perfect way to create an online relationship that continues once an applicant is approved for residency. There’s no need to help new residents create a login, enter household information or complete other administrative tasks. Everything they’ve entered during the online housing application process is saved and automatically moves to their resident record.

Can your residents do these things online without having to call your property managers? With RENTCafé Affordable Housing, they’re all available to residents, 24/7/365.

• Make rent payments

• Schedule unit inspections

• Request maintenance work

• Recertify eligibility for housing assistance


EX AMPLE:

Annual Recertifications

Residents of subsidized housing units must document their eligibility for assistance on a preset schedule – usually once a year. Recertification provides certainty that housing investments continue to serve the intended members of the community.

When a resident already has an online account, annual recertifications go more quickly and are less likely to extend beyond their due date. Instead of taking time out to copy paycheck stubs and tax returns, residents can easily update their household financial status online when it’s most convenient for them.


05

BREEZE THROUGH MONITORING

Monitoring is a fact of life for affordable housing programs. No matter the source of funds, there’s always an auditor out there whose job is to ensure everything complies with program regulations.

Onsite monitoring sessions often create anxiety about potentially lost information and the preparation it takes to get paper files in order. Those missteps result in findings that can take significant staff hours to correct. Online housing applications solve those pain points by taking file cabinets and missing pieces of paper out of the audit process.

Auditors can find everything they need to verify residents’ eligibility quickly and easily. Every step, including your staff’s review and decision making, is recorded for total transparency, which means your next audit won’t involve hours digging through a file cabinet full of paperwork.


EX AMPLE:

The Best Audit Ever

Your contact at HUD is coming in from the field office to monitor compliance. She’ll want to see rent receipts, inspection records, proof of program eligibility and more. She’ll want the date each household was qualified, their move-in date, their household demographic data and on and on.

No problem.

All the work your residents, and staff have done to verify eligibility flows seamlessly into their resident records. Your HUD rep can simply access your property management database and drill down into documentation to verify that your program complies with funding regulations.

Even ineligible or incomplete applications are easily accessed and never lost in storage. No matter the eligibility determination, the decisions your housing specialists make are transparent and fully available for review.

With audits this easy, your organization will demonstrate high performance and make itself more competitive for future sources of funds.


Get Real Results

RENTCafé Affordable Housing is the only online solution of its kind. By replacing mounds of paperwork with a self-service online app, affordable housing applicants gain the freedom to apply when they want, and from where they want.

Let’s look at the usage data from actual RENTCafé Affordable Housing clients.

Stand Out Statistics for 2020

1,004 affordable housing applications started online each day

366,496 stacks of paper neither printed nor stored

549,744 fewer hours spent in meetings, based on the average intake interview of 1.5 hours

57% affordable housing applications were abandoned before submission. By putting eligibility requirements and application forms online, applicants can self-screen themselves from the process

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THANK YOU!

Yardi is a private, family and minority owned business with more than four decades of experience in the industry. Our RENTCafé suite of property marketing and leasing products has all the tools you need to attract prospects, qualify applicants and improve resident services. RENTCafé Affordable Housing streamlines compliance by collecting the data you need without the paperwork.

When you’re ready to learn more about electronic applications for affordable housing properties, email [email protected] or call (800) 866-1144.

NOTICE: Design and content ©2021 Yardi Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Information is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Yardi Systems, Inc. Yardi is a registered trademark of Yardi Systems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other products mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Yardi Systems, Inc. 430 South Fairview Avenue, Santa Barbara, California 93117phone: +1 800-866-1144 | [email protected] | Yardi.com

RENTCafe Affordable Housing-ebook 5/25/21

Energized for Tomorrow

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five steps - yardi systems inc

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