2000 Best Practice Awards

Best Practice: Infill Single Family Home New Construction

Ft. Lauderdale Housing Authority Constructing Inner City Homes

Ft. Lauderdale. The Ft. Lauderdale Housing Authority, in partnership with the City of Ft. Lauderdale, utilized the 5H Homeownership Program to construct 26 new single family homes on vacant lots in the inner city. In addition, the housing authority purchased and renovated 12 HUD-owned and abandoned single family homes in residential areas using the Step-Up Apprenticeship Job-Training Program. This job-training program allows low-income participants to learn new skills in roofing, flooring, plumbing, and electricity. Targeted families for these 38 units were Family Self-Sufficiency participants, public housing residents, Section 8 participants and other low-income families involved in educational and employment programs.

Contact: Philip O. Goombs, Phone: (954) 525-6444 Ext.106
Tracking Number: 2173
Winning Category: Program (Public and Indian Housing)

Best Practice: Creative Education Institute (CEI) Remedial Reading Program

CEI Remedial Reading Program Overcomes Learning Disabilities

Hialeah. The CEI Remedial Reading Program uses technical devices to provide remedial reading to youth that experience learning disabilities or low progress in school. The program, an integrated partnership of schools, parents, and private businesses, is based on a sensory integration format and was designed to provide a systematic approach to ascertain any learning deficiencies in adults and children. Each student uses an individual Essential Learning System station with a personal computer, software, a speech device and headphones. The students’ speech files are compressed and read by the new technology. The program participants are evaluated using tests, supplied by CEI, that determines students' strengths and weaknesses in visual and auditory memory, reading, and spelling. The system suggests a specific course for each student, including sequence patterns, parameter settings, and behavioral tendencies for use with each exercise. Students remain in the program until they have achieved their grade reading level. The program is based on a point system that allows students to accumulate CEI dollars that they can use to purchase prizes ranging from candies to school supplies. Since the inception of the program in October 1998, the program has served 12 participants daily and has tested 64 participants.

Contact: Veronica Lopez, Phone: (305) 888-9744 Ext. 1203
Tracking Number: 3005
Winning Category: Program (Public and Indian Housing)

Best Practice: Collaborative Partnerships

Lakeland Housing Authority Providing More Services through Collaborative Partnerships

Lakeland. Three years ago, the Lakeland Housing Authority (LHA) focused on ways to maximize the use of resources to address family barriers to employment and has been able to identify over $6 million worth of programs and services for the residents of public housing. There are excellent working relationships between the local agencies and programs in the city of Lakeland and in Polk County as a whole. LHA funds, available from a variety of public and private sources, are used to fill gaps in services and expand existing employment, education, crime prevention, and counseling programs to serve more people. Public housing managers are aware of alternatives for residents within their communities and work with case managers to refer families to self-improvement programs. A common goal shared by the programs is to provide economic independence, transportation services, and neighborhood improvements for public housing communities. As a result of the partnership, public housing managers have become aware of residents’ alternatives in their communities. They work hand-in-hand with case managers in resident services to refer families to self-improvement programs instead of eviction.

Contact: Sandra J. Bauer, Phone: (863) 687-2911 Ext. 31
Tracking Number: 1909
Winning Category: Program (Public and Indian Housing)

Best Practice: Great Miami Neighborhoods, Inc.

Greater Miami Neighborhoods Implements a Pilot Asset Control Area REO Program

Miami. Greater Miami Neighborhoods, Inc. (GMN), a local nonprofit developer, is acting as the Miami-Dade County agent for implementation of a Pilot Asset Control Area Real Estate Owned (REO) Program for HUD-owned single family foreclosed homes. GMN facilitates and streamlines the acquisition, rehabilitation and disposition of foreclosed single-family properties to very low and low-income buyers. To date, GMN has begun the acquisition process on 52 properties and has taken title on 12. Once a property is acquired, it is matched with a qualifying family and rehabilitation begins. GMN is working with community-based organizations that are pre-qualifying the low-income buyers for mortgages and processing the loans. Properties are sold at market value, and the new homeowners use their own funds, conventional loans from Miami-Dade County, Fannie Mae and private lenders, and second mortgages from Miami-Dade County’s Surtax Program to finance the purchases. This pilot program restores abandoned properties and ensures that eligible families occupy the homes.

Contact: Claire F. Raley, Phone: (305) 324-5505 Ext. 102
Tracking Number: 2160
Winning Category: Geographical and Program (Housing - Single Family)

Best Practice: Miami-Dade Housing Agency Section 3 Business Certification, Marketing and Enforcement Initiative

Housing Agency Creates a Marketing and Enforcement Initiative for Section 3

Miami. The Miami-Dade Housing Agency (MDHA) engages in several activities to promote and expand its Section 3 Business Certification Program, which targets businesses substantially owned by or that employ low-income individuals, or subcontract to these firms. Using its own resources and contract procedures, MDHA leverages training, employment, and business opportunities for low-income residents. MDHA educates contractors and vendors about the advantages of becoming a Section 3 business, defines the certification criteria and provides contractor and vendor application assistance. MDHA requires its contractors to solicit and award at least 10 percent of the award amount to Section 3 businesses when subcontracting is needed. Through MDHA’s outreach efforts, it encourages housing agency contractors to refer other contractors to the program and provides a Section 3 business list to developers who bid on public housing and community development activities. During 1999, MDHA successfully certified 29 Section 3 businesses, and these businesses were awarded 18 contracts and received $1.3 million, generated from HUD’s Comprehensive Grant Program (CGP) or Community Development funding.

Contact: Rene Rodriguez, Phone: (305) 644-5112
Tracking Number: 1998
Winning Category: Program (Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity)

Best Practice: The PRIME Program

Private Rental Housing Initiative for Management Efficiency

Miami. The PRIME Program, implemented January 31, 2000, is designed to increase efficiency in operations, productivity and staff morale at the Miami-Dade Housing Agency (MDHA). Using the combined skills of Florida International University’s Institute of Government, private management efficiency consultants and a steering committee of MDHA staff, an effective team was formed. This team developed performance measures and created incentive plans and training programs for the agency. Higher efficiency will lead to improved customer service and speedier tenant annual recertification. It will also enable owners to fill vacancies faster. In addition to reducing work backlog and resident complaints, the program produces an annual saving of $1.2 million.

Contact: Rene Rodriguez, Phone: (305) 644-5112
Tracking Number: 2017
Winning Category: Program (Housing - Multifamily)

Best Practice: Private Rental Housing Customer Service Center

Private Rental Housing Customer Service Center Responds to Section 8 Participants

Miami. The Miami-Dade Housing Agency’s (MDHA) Private Rental Housing Customer Service Center provides assistance to clients with housing-related problems, provides information to the public regarding participation in housing programs and investigates claims or inquiries submitted by the some 20,000 Section 8 participants and landlords. MDHA has a goal of becoming more responsive to participating Section 8 tenants and landlords. The center has increased customer satisfaction by providing the public with key program information, addressing concerns of landlord and tenants, and investigating all claims in a timely manner. Most importantly, it has been instrumental in improving the public’s perception of MDHA Section 8 operations. It has accomplished this through improved telephone intake procedures, automated routing to multilingual representatives, user-friendly customer service forms, staff trained in the area of customer service, policies and procedures that addresses client satisfaction standards, immediate data retrieval from the computer system, and timely responses and follow-up to written inquiries and complaints.

Contact: Rene Rodriguez, Phone: (305) 644-5112
Tracking Number: 2028
Winning Category: Program (Housing - Multifamily)

Best Practice: Specialty Team

Miami-Dade Housing Agency Specialty Team Reducing Costs

Miami. The Miami-Dade Housing Agency (MDHA) Specialty Team is a competitive and market-oriented program designed to reduce MDHA’s reliance on outside contract costs in a competitive environment for property managers. This task is accomplished by utilizing a staff comprised of MDHA employees, public housing residents, and Work-And-Gain through Economic Self-Sufficiency participants deployed to provide lawn maintenance, vacant lot clearing, board-ups, and initial vacant unit clearing. The Specialty Team is versatile and utilizes heavy equipment to assist their trained staff. Property managers and the county benefit from the cost savings that the Specialty Team provides since the charges are equivalent to the capital and labor costs. Because the team’s qualitative and quantitative aspects are desirable, MDHA property managers have significantly reduced the use of private contractors. The annual expense of the Specialty Team was projected to be $481,260, through the first quarter of FY 1999, and actual revenues are estimated at $117,000. The true measure of success will be in the ability of the Specialty Team to cover its annual cost. The financial success will be realized after a six to twelve-month cost comparison.

Contact: Rene Rodriguez, Phone: (305) 644-5112
Tracking Number: 2237
Winning Category: Program (Public and Indian Housing)

Best Practice: Women of Destiny, Inc.

From Welfare- to-Work—Women of Destiny Helps Break the Dependency Cycle

Panama City. Women of Destiny is a non-profit organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of dependency by empowering women with personal initiative, educational direction, citizen leadership training and an increased awareness of all community resources designed and available to assist and meet welfare-to-work requirements. The organization offers several training programs covering topics on first-time homebuying, how to create a small business, computer training, GED-related courses, personal development, job development and placement, and drug counseling. An auto donation program helps alleviate transportation issues facing participant-members. Program partners include Microsoft and Coca-Cola. All residents living in HUD-assisted housing are automatically eligible for membership. Women of Destiny, Inc. is the non-profit "umbrella" serving six HUD/FHA and two USDA Rural Development properties. This arrangement benefits these properties in many ways, primarily by facilitating receipts of financial and equipment donations and grants from corporate partners.

Contact: Barbara S. Moore, Phone: (850) 873-8893
Tracking Number: 2281
Winning Category: Program (Housing - Multifamily)

Best Practice: Fair Housing Act New Design and Construction Accessibility Requirements

Florida Fair Housing Act Making Homes Safe

Tallahassee. In an effort to promote the goal of fair housing for persons with disabilities in the State of Florida, the Florida Attorney General's Office of Civil Rights initiated a statewide enforcement program in 1999. The goal of this program was to ensure that covered multifamily dwelling units built for occupancy since March 13, 1991, complied with the Florida Fair Housing Act’s new design and construction accessibility requirements. One element of the accessibility project included trained investigators conducting on-site measurements of these housing projects throughout Florida. Another component was the education and outreach training workshops on the new building code for building department officials, architects, and builders. This successful outreach culminated in an accessibility workshop for the Building Officials Association of Florida’s 48th Annual Educational Conference, and has drawn over 300 building officials and plan examiners to training programs and discussions regarding accessibility requirements. Efforts of officials such as Assistant Attorney General Kathleen Burgener and partnerships among government agencies, nonprofit organizations, private businesses, HUD personnel, state and local fair housing agencies, building officials, and architects created a successful campaign to educate Florida building officials about fair housing building compliance.

Contact: Robert Butterworth, Phone: (850) 487-1963
Tracking Number: 1776
Winning Category: Program (Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity)

Best Practice: The Salvation Army Center of Hope

Center of Hope Providing Housing and Services to the Homeless

West Palm Beach. The Salvation Army Center of Hope provides housing and onsite services to homeless individuals and families, the majority of whom are chronic substance abusers. At the core of the support services is comprehensive substance abuse treatment, with assistance from The Drug Abuse Foundation, provided at a licensed drug treatment facility. Other onsite services include comprehensive case management, adult basic education and GED training, anger management, conflict resolution, life skills and interview skills training, and preschool and after school care. The primary goal of Center of Hope's residential programs, Challenge to Change Bridges (transitional living) and Home Sweet Home (emergency family shelter), is to assist individuals and families so that they become self-sufficient and gain self-esteem through fulltime employment and permanent housing. Emergency and transitional housing assists 105 individuals, and Home Sweet Home provides shelter for 40 people in families. Both programs are made possible through extensive collaboration with organizations and foundations and the experience of staff who provide counseling, medical treatment and skills.

Contact: Joni Baker, Phone: (561) 682-1118
Tracking Number: 1664
Winning Category: Program (Community Planning and Development)

Best Practice: Habijax Lot Preparation

Habijax Lot Preparation Providing Homeownership to Families

Jacksonville. Habijax Lot Preparation—a Habitat for Humanity project—provides homeownership for low- and moderate-income families who are unable to obtain home financing through conventional means. Since 1997, the city of Jacksonville provided $900,000 of Community Development Building Grant (CDBG) funding to Habijax, one of the most active local chapters of National Habitat for Humanity. Since October 1997, 50 of the 270 families assisted also received down payment assistance from the CDBG funds. This project is being implemented in specific neighborhoods designated Intensive Care Neighborhoods, which assures that the city is implementing multifaceted revitalization projects in each neighborhood. Habijax’s housing construction homeownership activities are implemented and financed through diverse volunteers and corporate sponsors are a major component of the revitalization efforts. The project has utilized more than $8.8 million of non-CDBG and non-state assistance, including $3.3 million in corporate contributions, on housing construction activities.

Contact: Roslyn M. Phillips, Phone: (904) 630-7030
Tracking Number: 1299
Winning Category: Program (Community Planning and Development)

Best Practice: Cease Fire Tampa

Cease Fire Protecting Young Lives in Tampa

Tampa. The goal of Cease Fire is to decrease the number of injuries and deaths due to firearm violence, particularly among children. In 1998, representatives from area hospitals, law enforcement, private corporate sponsors, the Hillsborough County School System and local charitable foundations formed this broad-based community effort in Tampa. Since then, the group has developed a gun buy-back for unwanted guns, an innovative firearm safety education program for third graders, and an evening community education program for the entire family. Several department and grocery stores have awarded gift certificates to participants. The second element of this program is a firearm safety curriculum, developed by Tampa General Hospital's MORE HEALTH program and assisted by the Tampa Police Department, for third graders. Representatives from the organization gave a presentation to over 4,000 third graders in the 1999-2000 school year and are preparing to increase outreach for the next year. A third component of the program, community education for parents and other residents, rounds out the Cease Fire activities. Free gunlocks are offered to participants.

Contact: William J. Kalbas, Phone: (813) 228-2026 Ext. 2112
Tracking Number: 484
Winning Category: Geographical and Program (Community Builder)

Best Practice: HOPE VI

HOPE VI - More Than Housing in Durkeeville

Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Housing Authority was awarded a 1996 HOPE VI grant to restore Florida's oldest public housing development, Durkeeville, built in 1936. This had been a vibrant community and a stable neighborhood full of small businesses, recreation, schools, and churches. Over the years, as homeowners aged and died or left the community, businesses began to close, and the dynamics of the neighborhood changed. The Jacksonville HOPE VI is intended to revitalize the Durkeeville community and create economic development by building the area’s first new shopping complex full of minority owned businesses, a Shands Medical Clinic, road infrastructure replacement with off street parking, and the Durkeeville Historical Society. The HOPE VI budget of $1.4 million of funding for sidewalks, landscaping and repaving of Myrtle Avenue, the main thoroughfare, has leveraged $2.4 million dollars from Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) to expand the road and allow for better traffic access. Economic redevelopment of the area has stimulated development of a 5-plex shopping strip and created job opportunities for area residents.

Contact: Elaine D. Spencer, Phone: (904) 232-2627
Tracking Number: 494
Winning Category: Program (Public and Indian Housing)

Best Practice: Forum 2000, Dialogue on Disabilities

Forum 2000, Dialogue on Disabilities: A One-stop Shop for the Disabled

Ormond Beach. The Forum 2000 Dialogue on Disabilities - modeled after a trade show- serves as a one-stop shop for disabled people and facilitates the distribution of valuable information to the community. It is the second annual event sponsored by Handicapped Adults of Volusia County (HAVOC). Two years ago, HAVOC recognized a need in the community to help educate disabled individuals and their families about public and private services such as housing, education, durable medical equipment and public assistance available to them in the Volusia and Flagler county areas. As a result, public and private organizations hold booths at the forum. They display information about the services they provide and answer questions from the general public. More than 40 agencies set up information booths at previous forums, and breakout seminars were held in a separate room in which agency repre3sentatives made individual presentations about their organization to attendees. More than 400 individuals in the community came to the daylong event last year to obtain available information.

Contact: Chris Calabucci, Phone: (904) 672-0754
Tracking Number: 2706
Winning Category: Program (Community Builder)

Content Archived: April 20, 2011