PHA Launches Comprehensive Landlord Outreach Initiative

Landlord Outreach in 2019

Before the COVID pandemic, the PHA began hosting “Conversations with Landlords” opening up a new line of communication to landlords in the City that encouraged an exchange of ideas, joint problem solving, and relationship building. Over 80 people attended the sessions over the course of several weeks. They were neighborhood based to help drive a problem solving at neighborhood-level and discussed the basic ins and outs of the Section 8 program to help dispel some of the general myths about the program.  From these meetings, the PHA forged new relationships, identified a handful of new units that would be willing to accept a voucher, and finally, discovered some basic needs for technical assistance as landlords looked to the PHA for help with lease violations and maintenance. “Meeting landlords in the West End, Southside, East Side, and Smith Hill / Wanskuck neighborhoods brought to light different challenges within each neighborhood as well as unexpected allies,” noted Peter Asen, the PHA’s Director of Strategy and Development. He continued, “Often, landlords and neighbors within the community think Section 8 tenants are problematic and do not want them in their neighborhoods. With these conversations, we were able to open up a dialogue about how there is no difference between a voucher holder and someone without a voucher – except that part of each month’s payment comes directly from the PHA, making the tenant more able to afford their rent.”

New Efforts to Support New Voucher Holders & Participants Looking to Move

As this was happening, more research was emerging about the benefits of living in “neighborhoods of opportunity” and that where you live, specifically your zip code, determines outcomes later in life impacting your earnings and even health. HUD began publishing case studies of landlord engagement to assist voucher holders to move into these high value neighborhoods. Seeing this and always striving to be a best-in-class leader, the PHA applied to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI) to pilot a project that would allow the PHA to assist tenants with gaining access to vouchers and moving into neighborhoods of opportunity with the primary theory that by engaging landlords, we would be more likely to access units within those desired zip codes. The PHA joined the BCBSRI Blue Angel 2019 cohort and quickly began adapting its early plans to fit the new realities of COVID. In doing so, it accelerated much of the work laid out in the pilot program.  Voucher holders began receiving well-being calls and check-ins more often from PHA staff and the organization began planning to marry new programming providing financial assistance to landlords, such as the Safe Harbor program, with technical assistance and other incentives to engage with the PHA more regularly – even if it doesn’t result in leasing to a PHA voucher holder right away.

Providing Feedback

This effort is just unfolding and true to their values, the PHA is seeking input from landlords on the topics they would like to learn more about.  “While we have common questions asked of our team by landlords, we don’t know it all.  It was very important to us to ask landlords in the City to see if there are topics and needs, we hadn’t thought of or areas where we can add value,” noted Vanessa Galarza, Associate Director of Leased Housing for the PHA. Landlord outreach is critical to understanding how and where the PHA and our programs fit in the market. Landlords with units in Providence can take the survey online at https://tinyurl.com/PHALandlord by 5pm on August 12^th to be eligible to win a $100 gift card.  Once they have received all the responses, the organization plans to unveil a series of virtual meetings and help sessions for landlords as well as other incentives to those who lease rental units to PHA voucher holders in the upcoming year.