ADOH's Lean Transformation Efforts Improve Rental Property Efficiencies

The Section 8/Compliance Division of the Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) is a division with two sub-sections. The Section 8 area facilitates compliance oversight and rental assistance for 8,251 affordable rental units across the State of Arizona. The Compliance Division ensures that 36,241 ADOH financed rental units are well maintained and that owner/agents are complying with state and federal regulations.

In June of 2016, this division created new goals in both sections to improve outcomes for the low-income tenants ADOH serves. The goals were in response to Governor Ducey’s lean transformation initiative to increase efficiency in state government through the Arizona Management System (AMS).

The first goal was to decrease the vacancy rate of 8,031 Project Based Section 8 rental units to ensure that available units do not set empty, so that more low-income families find an affordable home in a shorter amount of time.  By conducting AMS problem solving techniques and applying solutions that incorporated more proactive engagement with owner/agents, vacancy rates decreased from 2.76 percent to 1.99 percent within one year, decreasing further to 1.84 percent as of January 2018.  The decrease in vacancy rates resulted in a corresponding increase in the number low-income families served from 7,810 to 7,886.

The second goal was to increase the rate at which owners and managers of over 36,000 units of Low Income Housing Tax Credit, HOME and Housing Trust Fund financed rental properties fully corrected compliance issues identified through Compliance Division monitoring visits.  Using the AMS system, ADOH improved the clarity of requirements to regain faster compliance, leading to increased closure of monitoring visit findings at the time of the initial owner/agent responses. In July 2016 only 44 percent of properties corrected compliance issues by the initial ADOH imposed deadline. Following AMS principles, the number of properties that fully corrected compliance issues by the initial deadline increased to 81 percent. This has resulted in cleaner, safer properties that are available to families having the lowest of incomes.

Increasing efficiencies through AMS has allowed ADOH to increase both the number of families served and the quality of low-income housing in Arizona. This has been accomplished without additional funding, but by more efficiently using a finite source of funds. ADOH is committed to improving the manner in which we conduct business for the overall benefit of Arizona’s most vulnerable families.