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Q&A
Commissioner explains Housing Connect lottery process and planned improvements
1:28:33
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174 sec
Acting Commissioner Tigani provides a detailed explanation of the Housing Connect lottery process and the improvements being implemented to streamline the system.
- Outlines steps from lottery submission to applicant selection
- Discusses differences in requirements for various funding sources (e.g., low-income tax credit units)
- Highlights efforts to improve communication between marketing agents and applicants
- Mentions reduction in required paperwork to simplify the application process
- Notes ongoing work with federal government to interpret tax code requirements
Ahmed Tigani
1:28:33
Well in the So Housing Connect process is both us being able to get the initial lottery up which involves the submission of starting the lottery, us approving the lottery ad so it meets the requirements of what information people should see.
1:28:50
And then starting to put that lottery out.
1:28:54
Usually it's a sixty day period to advertise the lottery.
1:28:58
At that point the lottery is closed.
1:29:00
We bring the names are brought out.
1:29:04
It's randomized so that everyone has a fair chance and log numbers are populated and then the marketing agent starts going through those names.
1:29:12
At that point there are a number of questions about what is the experience for individuals who are in low income tax credit units versus other non low income tax credit units.
1:29:24
Why is that important?
1:29:25
Because there are different requirements and checks that might have to be implemented on one unit versus another based on the funding source.
1:29:31
We are seeing that there is a lot of work we can do to improve the technology to make it easier for marketing agent and the applicants to communicate together to get the paperwork that they need.
1:29:41
And we have been and you see now in the marketing guidelines that we just improved that we reduced the amount of paperwork that was required.
1:29:50
Six pay stubs down to two, tax returns that may not be required anymore, self certification of personal finances from 5,000 up to 50,000 because our data suggests that you don't need to provide paperwork and we can confirm that they're eligible for those units.
1:30:09
So reducing the burden of what you collect will reduce the time.
1:30:12
The work that we've done with the federal government last year to look at the tax code for units that may have additional requirements and coming up with new interpretations will reduce the time.
1:30:22
And then the technology piece to make sure all of this catches up and we figure out a way for them to be able to work more effectively on the back end will reduce
1:30:34
I'm sorry.
1:30:35
So Arvernisse, it's an important project.
1:30:39
I did not get to join that event but I've been out there because I've worked on this project from a couple of different It like many of our larger projects is dependent on all the financial resources we've talked about.
1:30:52
I've talked to a number of members of the council about important projects that they want to see forward.
1:30:57
Part of this is the federal tax credit solution that we've talked about that will allow us to do more projects.
1:31:04
Our capital budget is definitely in a better place.
1:31:08
But we again, without all of our tools in the place that we need, it limits how many projects we can move forward.
1:31:14
And we do have a lot of projects in the pipeline.
1:31:16
We're talking to the project team of Arvar and Nice trying to get creative.
1:31:20
We said we would revisit the conversation over the summer and we're happy to keep you updated about how fast we can move on that.
Yusef Salaam
1:30:30
the time.
Renee Keitt
1:30:30
And Commissioner if you could
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
1:30:31
just answer the final question.
Justin Brannan
1:30:33
Yeah, I get to wrap up.