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Deputy Commissioner Darga outlines strategies to manage capacity issues at HPD
1:12:56
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122 sec
Deputy Commissioner Kim Darga explains various strategies HPD is implementing to manage capacity issues and reduce the backlog in processing preservation loan applications.
- HPD launched the Community Partners for Affordable Renovation program, partnering with lending institutions to help with early loan review and due diligence
- The agency is hiring consultants to assist with early loan packaging to streamline the process
- Temporary staff are being hired on multi-year contracts to help manage the backlog in the Office of Development and Legal
- Five MWBE firms have been engaged to assist with transaction conversations in the Office of Legal
Kim Darga
1:12:56
Just one addition just on the capacity front.
1:13:00
And we've been trying to think about ways to manage this question both thinking about staffing and rebuilding the team that was really dramatically hit during the pandemic, but also through other ways.
1:13:17
And that includes looking at process.
1:13:21
As the acting commissioner said a few minutes ago, we actually launched the Community Partners for Affordable Renovation program in the fall, where we are partnering with lending institutions who are doing a lot of the early loan review due diligence work and submitting a package to us to help us manage our resources more strategically.
1:13:47
We also are hiring consultants that are going to do some of the early loan packaging for us so that we get a more complete package.
1:13:56
When we can assign somebody, we can move faster through the process on our end.
1:14:00
We also have you may recall from some of the prior budget hearings, we added some funding to kinda add strategic capacity in the Office of Development and Legal by hiring temps to help manage the backlog.
1:14:22
So in addition to the permanent staff, I think at this point we have approximately two dozen staff in the office of development that we're hiring on a multiyear contract basis in order to help us advance those projects as well.
1:14:37
So we're really trying on a number of fronts, both on the process front, the using other partners front, and on the temporary staff front to increase our capacity to be able to address this question.
Ahmed Tigani
1:14:49
And think the deputy commissioner mentioned it, but in the Office of Legal, we have five MWBE firms that are helping with the transaction conversations, so those move quickly too.