Project for Pride in Living
Report date
June 2021
What has been most instrumental to your progress?
Existing partnerships. The project built off longstanding, trusting relationships among three housing partners – PPL, CommonBond, and Aeon – that have experience in partnering to research and identify new and innovative ways to solve community problems. Before this project, the three organizations and others were part of a two-year research collaborative that explored the relationship between criminal backgrounds and housing outcomes. That work also led to innovative new tenant screening policies in the City of Minneapolis. Together, our intent was to build off of this previous success and the very early collaborating we had already begun around property management issues and legislative proposals to support each other as we navigated the emerging needs of the pandemic in 2020. Assessing internal and resident challenges, researching best practices/strategies to effectively respond to those needs, supporting operational planning, identifying any new expenditures, and sharing our learnings was the focus of our efforts. Having the trusting, mutually beneficial, and respectful partnerships in place were a critical component to achieving progress on this project.
Regular Communication/Work Sessions. During the grant period, collaborative members held 12 works sessions to share information and strategies for navigating the impacts of the pandemic on the organizations and residents. Work sessions focused on:
• Property Operations
o Resident Stability Strategies
o Property Maintenance/Management
o Resident Social & Emotional Well-Being
• Portfolio Management
o COVID Impacts on Operating Income
o Measuring Rent Losses
o Working with Lenders/Investors
• Organizational Impacts
o Staff Morale & Capacity
o Organizational Financial Impacts
o Human Resources
Through the sessions, staff from each organization were able to come together on a regular basis to share challenges, learnings, and strategies on each of these topics. Key staff reported benefitting from regular structured work session to debrief on what they were seeing in their day-to-day work and, from these sessions, they formed relationships with peers across member organizations who they now reach out to more readily to discuss challenges and share ideas. The consistency in communication, tracking emerging community needs, and deepening of relationships were essential.
• Property Operations
o Resident Stability Strategies
o Property Maintenance/Management
o Resident Social & Emotional Well-Being
• Portfolio Management
o COVID Impacts on Operating Income
o Measuring Rent Losses
o Working with Lenders/Investors
• Organizational Impacts
o Staff Morale & Capacity
o Organizational Financial Impacts
o Human Resources
Through the sessions, staff from each organization were able to come together on a regular basis to share challenges, learnings, and strategies on each of these topics. Key staff reported benefitting from regular structured work session to debrief on what they were seeing in their day-to-day work and, from these sessions, they formed relationships with peers across member organizations who they now reach out to more readily to discuss challenges and share ideas. The consistency in communication, tracking emerging community needs, and deepening of relationships were essential.
Multimethod Research to Inform Strategies. The collaborative, in partnership with Greater Minnesota Housing Fund (GMHF) and ElevateMN Consulting, executed a survey to assess the impact of COVID-19 on rental housing and also conducted a scan of COVID-19 best practices in affordable housing via national literature and interviews with organizations to identify how to mitigate COVID impacts on tenants, properties, and organizations. Using both these tools, the collective was able to generate and test strategies based on the findings.
Key lessons learned
The collaborative members worked together to provide core data for a monthly rent survey
of rental property in Minnesota. The survey captured data in November 2020 and includes data for 32,356 units, a preponderance of which (58%) are units covered by some form of rental assistance. The remaining 42% of units have no form of rental assistance. This sample is about 5% of the statewide rental housing market of roughly 610,000 units. Key survey findings include:
• Unpaid rents continue to be elevated from pre-pandemic levels, underscoring the ongoing need for rental assistance to prevent displacement of households.
• Housing providers continue to experience a loss of net operating income which risks destabilizing the affordable housing infrastructure statewide and illustrates the need for property stabilization funds directly accessible to housing providers.
• Rent relief programs appear to be helping to drive down the number of households with past due rent though the numbers remains elevated from pre-pandemic levels.
Ultimately, the survey helped garner the support of lawmakers for critical rent relief funds to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.
of rental property in Minnesota. The survey captured data in November 2020 and includes data for 32,356 units, a preponderance of which (58%) are units covered by some form of rental assistance. The remaining 42% of units have no form of rental assistance. This sample is about 5% of the statewide rental housing market of roughly 610,000 units. Key survey findings include:
• Unpaid rents continue to be elevated from pre-pandemic levels, underscoring the ongoing need for rental assistance to prevent displacement of households.
• Housing providers continue to experience a loss of net operating income which risks destabilizing the affordable housing infrastructure statewide and illustrates the need for property stabilization funds directly accessible to housing providers.
• Rent relief programs appear to be helping to drive down the number of households with past due rent though the numbers remains elevated from pre-pandemic levels.
Ultimately, the survey helped garner the support of lawmakers for critical rent relief funds to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.
Through the review of national research, the group created a summary of COVID-19 best practices in affordable housing to utilize and test within the partnership, but to also share with the broader affordable housing sector. During the pandemic, property managers are tasked with addressing increases in tenant crises management, including mental health, hunger, domestic violence, child abuse, chemical dependency and communicating with appropriate services to match needs of their tenants. With COVID cases reported in most properties, we identified gaps in communication methods and languages among properties while trying to notify tenants of COVID cases and health/safety precautions. Thus, a sampling of best practices identified, utilized, and shared, include:
• Increased Communication with Tenants Regarding Pandemic Related Issues, Resources/Human Services, and Language Translation
• Eviction Prevention and Household Stabilization Practices During COVID-19
• Maintaining Tenant Community Health Practices
• Strengthening Employee Morale, Motivation, and Teamwork
• Portfolio Management/Asset Management Under COVID-19
• Ongoing Maintenance and Repairs
• Increased Communication with Tenants Regarding Pandemic Related Issues, Resources/Human Services, and Language Translation
• Eviction Prevention and Household Stabilization Practices During COVID-19
• Maintaining Tenant Community Health Practices
• Strengthening Employee Morale, Motivation, and Teamwork
• Portfolio Management/Asset Management Under COVID-19
• Ongoing Maintenance and Repairs
Reflections on the community innovation process
COVID-19 created an unprecedented situation that required all stages of the diagram to effectively pivot and support our staff, residents, and community. The collaborative aimed to collectively address anticipated challenges including:
• Ensuring the health, safety, and stability of residents during the crisis.
• Maintaining economic viability amidst anticipated rent losses.
• Navigating challenges related to management and maintenance amidst the need for increased cleaning of buildings and public spaces, increased communications with residents, enhanced security, and additional resident support services.
• Advocating for legislative policies that would support housing stability and relief at the state, federal, and local levels.
Each of these areas were continuously evolving throughout the grant period and required ongoing learning, problem-solving, and testing of strategies.
• Ensuring the health, safety, and stability of residents during the crisis.
• Maintaining economic viability amidst anticipated rent losses.
• Navigating challenges related to management and maintenance amidst the need for increased cleaning of buildings and public spaces, increased communications with residents, enhanced security, and additional resident support services.
• Advocating for legislative policies that would support housing stability and relief at the state, federal, and local levels.
Each of these areas were continuously evolving throughout the grant period and required ongoing learning, problem-solving, and testing of strategies.
Progress toward an innovation
Since launching the work plan in June, the collaborative has:
• Held a total of 12 work sessions to deepen relationships and share information and strategies for responding to the impacts of the pandemic on their organizations and in the lives of residents.
• Worked together to provide core data for a monthly rent survey of rental property in Minnesota. The survey helped garner the support of lawmakers for critical rent relief funds to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.
• A summary of best practices was assembled based on a scan of national literature and reports.
• Additionally, benefits of this collaboration were shared with the broader community of housing providers via a virtual convening that was hosted on October 29, 2020. Working group leaders served as panelists and shared key learnings from this collaboration with over 70 peers across Minnesota.
Through these key activities, we were able to identify an urgent need, increase collective understanding of the challenges/opportunities, collectively generate possible strategies to respond, and implement best practices to meet the needs of our residents and our own organizations during COVID-19.
• Held a total of 12 work sessions to deepen relationships and share information and strategies for responding to the impacts of the pandemic on their organizations and in the lives of residents.
• Worked together to provide core data for a monthly rent survey of rental property in Minnesota. The survey helped garner the support of lawmakers for critical rent relief funds to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic.
• A summary of best practices was assembled based on a scan of national literature and reports.
• Additionally, benefits of this collaboration were shared with the broader community of housing providers via a virtual convening that was hosted on October 29, 2020. Working group leaders served as panelists and shared key learnings from this collaboration with over 70 peers across Minnesota.
Through these key activities, we were able to identify an urgent need, increase collective understanding of the challenges/opportunities, collectively generate possible strategies to respond, and implement best practices to meet the needs of our residents and our own organizations during COVID-19.
What it will take to reach an innovation?
N/A
What's next?
The collaborative identified the following areas for future collaboration:
• Future pandemic relief funds for housing – provide input on program structure (full report document includes summary of CARES Act debrief) and assist the state in its efforts to efficiently deploy resources.
• Increase public awareness of the challenges faced by our residents – consider crafting guest editorial jointly to amplify the message.
• Continue to share data and promote collaboration at all levels of the organization to enhance knowledge of what works and solve challenges more quickly.
• Future pandemic relief funds for housing – provide input on program structure (full report document includes summary of CARES Act debrief) and assist the state in its efforts to efficiently deploy resources.
• Increase public awareness of the challenges faced by our residents – consider crafting guest editorial jointly to amplify the message.
• Continue to share data and promote collaboration at all levels of the organization to enhance knowledge of what works and solve challenges more quickly.
One last thought
The collaborative created a larger report that documents the progress of the working groups, the survey results, and research. We have emailed the full report to: CommunityInnovation@BushFoundation.org. Please let us know if you have additional questions regarding the report.