News
HUD Awards Housing Choice Voucher Study Contract
November 18, 2010
The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded Abt Associates a contract for a study of the Housing Choice Voucher program. Quadel is a member of the Abt team and will participate in the study that may extend for four years.
The study will examine the funding amount needed to administer a high performing and efficient voucher program based on direct measurement of the work actually performed by voucher administrators. The voucher program represents a large portion of HUD's overall budget and of all the benefits that HUD provides to low-income families and individuals. As of 2010, the Housing Choice Voucher program serves more than 2 million households, at a total subsidy cost of over $19.5 billion per year.
The data collection tasks will be performed through a series of site visits, interviews, and focus groups at HUD field offices and with the program staff and Board of Directors for 60 public housing authorities. A panel of experts will provide input and guidance on all phases of the study. In addition to Abt and Quadel, other team members include Phineas Consulting, Resource Systems Group, Inc., JRD & Associates, Inc., and Jennifer Hopkins Consulting.
Newark Project Based Voucher Program Awarded Governor’s Excellence in Housing Award
October 16, 2010
The Newark Housing Authority (NHA) was awarded an
Excellence in Housing Award for “Best Creative Partnership” at the 2010
Governor’s Conference on Housing and Community Development sponsored by the New
Jersey Department of Community Affairs and the New Jersey Housing &
Mortgage Finance Agency. The NHA was nominated for a creative partnership
based on its Project-Based Voucher (PBV) Program. The program is administered by New Jersey Quadel as part of the Newark
Housing Choice Voucher program.
The PBV Program allows the NHA to allocate up to 20%
of its mobile Section 8 vouchers to be dedicated to specific projects. Under the PBV Program residents pay no more
than 30% of their income for rent, while the NHA pays the balance of a
reasonable fair market rent to the owner.
Converting tenant based vouchers to project based vouchers allows for
the creation or production of new housing.
It also provides long term housing options for more difficult to house
populations such as the homeless, disabled and elderly who have difficulty finding
units with their mobile vouchers in the fluctuating housing markets.
Newark’s PBV program was created June 2007, the
first 26 project based vouchers were awarded in February of 2008. In total, NHA has awarded 607 project based
vouchers which are being leveraged to support the total development and
rehabilitation of over 1,000 units of affordable housing. As a result of this program, 38 units of
supportive housing have been built and occupied and 86 additional supportive
housing units are under development.
Quadel assumed responsibility for management of the Newark
Housing Authority’s (NHA) Housing Choice Voucher Program in April 2008. After a year of operations, the NHA Housing
Choice Voucher Program has transitioned from troubled status to a standard
performer rating under SEMAP.
Indiana Quadel Co-Hosts Performance Based Contract Administration Owner / Agent Conference
April 21, 2010
On April 20, 2010, The Midwest Affordable Housing Management Association (MAHMA) in conjunction with the Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority (IHCDA) and Indiana Quadel, held the state’s “Performance Based Contract Administration Owner/Agent Conference” at the University Place Hotel and ConferenceCenter at Indiana University Purdue University Campus. Celebrating 10 years of success in administering the HUD Performance Based Contract Administration Program, this event highlighted a strong partnership among the owners/agents, the local HUD office, IHCDA, and Indiana Quadel. More than 200 affordable housing professionals were in attendance.
John Hall, HUD Field Director kicked off the day with opening remarks praising the successful work of the IHCDA/Quadel partnership that has resulted in a decade of both huge savings for HUD and continued improvements in the quality of life for the people of Indiana. The program featured Deborah Lear, HUD Director, Office of Housing Assistance Contract Administration Oversight, as keynote speaker, discussing HUD’s exciting Transforming Rental Assistance Initiative and updates on new rules and regulations tied to the Performance Based Contract Administration Program. Indiana Quadel’s housing experts conducted intensive training programs covering a range of topics including; Management and Occupancy Reviews, Voucher Processing, Contract Renewals and Rent Adjustments.
Guest Speaker Anne Ryder, former NBC TV journalist and accomplished writer shared her compelling and inspirational stories of hope, faith and resilience of spirit. Those stories resonated with the affordable housing professionals dedicated to ensuring safe, decent and sanitary housing for low income families in the State of Indiana.