CGI's hard work, management skills and positive attitude make AMHA a star performer

"CGI's success was due to a lot of hard work and the quality of the staff. (…) Currently we are at 109% (utilization rate) compared to 86% for the same period last year. We talked with other housing authorities and this really was a record time to make such a big change."

Tony O'Leary, Executive Director, AMHA

In this successful undertaking, CGI would prove the value of its dedicated and positive approach to management consulting, helping the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority (AMHA) to turn around its operations and performance in record time.

The AMHA is a public agency chartered by the State of Ohio and funded in part through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide subsidized housing for eligible individuals and families. It is the sole provider of traditional low-income public housing under Section 9 of the U.S. Housing Act and primary provider of assisted housing programs under Section 8.

The Challenge
In the fall of 2001, the Authority was seeking professional management services for its Section 8 Tenant-Based Program in order to solve some operational problems that had affected the program's utilization rate and regulatory compliance. (Under the Tenant-Based Program, eligible low-income applicants receive portable vouchers, applicable anywhere in the U.S., to rent an apartment or house. Rent is subsidized partially (70%) or entirely by the Authority, depending on the case.)

The lack of compliance with the 95% standard utilization rate set by the Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) was costing the Authority some $250,000 a year in administration fees.
Given CGI's considerable expertise and success in managing and re-engineering Section 8 programs throughout the U.S., it was perhaps not surprising that the Authority considered CGI's proposal the best they had read in ten years. Said Tony O'Leary, AMHA Executive Director, "Usually contractors will present the standard boiler plate of services, but no specifics. CGI provided a game plan as to how to proceed with a high level of detail; they were very thorough." While gratified at winning the contract, CGI was immediately faced with the tall order of bringing the program's utilization rate from 86% to 95% in just six months.

The Strategy
CGI's preliminary assessment work and research proved critical to the mandate as the team soon discovered that the Authority was not adequately analyzing and tracking the utilization rate. (The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides the AMHA with a set number of vouchers that are distributed to applicants. But until a voucher is used, the utilization rate is considered zero. So tracking is key.) Another problem was that, owing to a lack of facilities to generate reports and produce contracts, there was no way to evaluate the program at any given time. There was an urgent need to automate the system and train employees on the existing report-generation software. "CGI methodically looked at every item of operations, established a plan, then worked the plan," offered O'Leary.

While SEMAP had rated the Authority a standard performer, the CGI team became concerned that such was not the case; that the staff did not fully understand how to complete SEMAP's self-certification process. Following a detailed assessment and due diligence of operations, which bore out the team's concerns, CGI prepared a corrective action plan to raise the Authority's compliance performance. This proved fortuitous as HUD's Confirmatory Review, conducted soon after CGI's assessment, concluded that the Authority was indeed an under-performer. Thankfully, the Authority was able to present HUD with CGI's corrective action plan that had already identified areas for improvement.
To secure rating compliance, CGI ensured that monthly production and performance reports were sent to directors. It implemented tracking tools and provided training to employees in different departments on the Authority's Memory Lane software for generating reports.

The Technology

• Consulting services, Memory Lane software

The Results
From November 2001 to June of 2002, program utilization had increased to well beyond 100%. The AMHA's next SEMAP rating is due at the end of August, but it already knows that it is performing well above standard, thanks to CGI's own SEMAP rating tests it regularly conducts for the Authority. "Currently we are at 109% (utilization rate) compared to 86% for the same period last year. We talked to other housing authorities and this really was a record time for such a big change," confirmed O'Leary.

Now that the Authority is in a better position to maintain its rating as a standard performer with the proper reporting and tracking systems, CGI is scaling down its involvement and is assisting in the transition phase to return management to the Authority. A new in-house management team will take over and CGI will continue to monitor operations at the AMHA's request. Commenting on the success of the mandate, O'Leary added, "CGI's success was due to a lot of hard work and the quality of the staff. They came into a difficult environment and prevailed with a persistent, tenacious and positive attitude."