Five Key Areas to Cut Costs in Affordable Housing [eBook]

Only 35 Affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low income (ELI) renter households in the United States, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Affordable property owners and managers are tasked with meeting demand through limited resources, and they must exercise cost control to ensure operations are most efficient. “As public funding sources come under threat − it becomes increasingly necessary to identify opportunities to lower the cost of providing affordable homes,” says the Urban Land Institute. Technology helps Affordable Housing industry become more efficient The challenges inherent to providing safe, quality Affordable Housing continue to require a continuous reassessment of costs. This enables communities to flourish and helps owners, operators and agencies cultivate their investments and fulfill their missions. Industry experts say the performance data of thousands of portfolios reveals the top costs for Affordable properties are attributed to repair and maintenance, payroll and utilities. Across the board, community operations have been burdened by inefficient processes, less-than-cost-effective spending, neglected energy management and other overhead challenges. But Affordable housing technology is playing an active role in helping property managers and owners provide more efficiently operated housing. Because many of the owners and managers of Affordable properties pay for utilities consumed by their residents, utility management and performance tracking has become paramount to their operating success. Technology is available to accurately measure resident consumption data to support the adoption and advocacy of conservation and reduction measures. Saving time and money through technology solutions  Mobile technology is assisting with repair and maintenance so repair techs spend less time completing work order forms and return faulty equipment that may be adding unne...