Modernizing PBCA operations to maximize program effectiveness

The nation’s multifamily affordable housing system is intricate, depending on a sprawling and complex system of interlocking state and local housing authorities, participating property owners, state regulators and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Administering subsidized housing programs has never been easy, and it is only becoming more difficult as demand rises and resources become scarcer. As the demand for subsidized housing grows and program requirements become more complex, contract administrators are being asked to provide the same level of service with diminished budgets and fewer resources, often while relying on manual processes or outdated systems that struggle to keep pace.

One aspect of housing, Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), serves more than a million families nationwide. The state and local public housing authorities, serving as Performance Based Contract Administration (PBCA) administrators, work with HUD to disburse subsidy funds and enforce compliance with HUD requirements for program participation. They oversee the management of Section 8 PBRA programs, responding to tenant complaints, conducting Management and Occupancy Reviews, renewing contracts and setting project rents, processing monthly subsidy payments and serving as the liaison between property owners and HUD. 

Further compounding the challenge is the wide array of documents, data and organizations that must interact for PBCAs to fulfill their duties. Their daily work requires navigating multiple tools, spreadsheets and siloed data held across multiple organizations at different levels of government and in the private sector.

First steps: Reapproaching process

To address these challenges, PBCAs should analyze and adjust, where necessary, the investments they are making in their programs and people:

Infrastructure: IT and network modernization programs can be challenging and expensive. One potential way to ease the burden is to establish a regular and reasonable schedule for updating equipment and sticking to it.

Tools: Equipping teams with well-chosen, up-to-date tools increases efficiency, reduces errors and improves employee satisfaction and customer experience.

Training: Neither the regulatory structure nor the technology environment remains stable for very long in housing administration. PBCAs should consider periodically reviewing processes and conducting training to keep their teams current on both. Again, a regular schedule helps to ensure this happens consistently. 

Evaluate infrastructure, tools and training to fulfill these goals: 

Consolidate the entire lifecycle of PBRA responsibilities – including rent adjustments, vouchering, MORs, tenant health and safety responses and contract renewals – into a single secure environment. The technology strategy to accomplish this varies from one PBCA environment to the next, but it will most likely entail harmonizing data, maintaining rigorous access controls and leveraging application programming interfaces (APIs) to bridge the various systems. 

Automate processes wherever possible. Automation can perform complex calculations with minimal error, guide staff through task-specific steps and create documentation to ensure auditability. Meanwhile, automating high-volume tasks such as vouchering and tenant-level tracking allows staff members to spend more time addressing complex matters that demand attention. 

Evaluate processes to discover additional opportunities to consolidate and automate, to find inefficient workflows and revise them, and to gauge the success of changes already made. This is an ongoing process that leads to ever-increasing gains of time, reduced costs and better service to stakeholders, including the families who depend on the programs to maintain safe and secure housing. 

CGI’s Contract Administration Tracking System (CATS)

CGI Federal developed CATS to address these challenges directly. A purpose-built cloud-native platform, CATS brings clarity, efficiency and accuracy to multiple core Annual Contributions Contract (ACC) tasks.

Security is built into every layer of the CATS platform. Hosted in FedRAMP-authorized cloud environments, CATS protects sensitive tenant and property information through end-to-end encryption and continuous monitoring of personally identifiable information (PII). 

CATS is backed by more than two decades of CGI Federal’s direct PBCA experience. This is a rare advantage in the affordable housing technology space. CGI Federal has processed millions of transactions on behalf of housing authorities and consistently maintained strong relationships with HUD. 

To learn more about CATS and our other work in subsidized housing programs, visit Performance Based Contract Administration | CGI United States.