Board of Directors CityHousing Hamilton Corporation. Brenda Osborne, Chief Executive Officer/ Secretary

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1 Date: May 30, 2013 Report to: Board of Directors CityHousing Hamilton Corporation Submitted by: Brenda Osborne, Chief Executive Officer/ Secretary Prepared by: Ramana Ganesaratnam Manager, Housing Operations Subject: Operational Staffing Requirements (Report # 13009) RECOMMENDATION: That the following 8 additional FTE s be added to the existing staff complement: Property Manager 2 FTE Property Management Assistant 1 FTE Tenant Placement Representative 2 FTE Operations Administrative Assistant 1 FTE Complaints Officer 1 FTE Scheduler 1 FTE Brenda Osborne Chief Executive Officer/Secretary EXECUTIVE SUMMMARY: Over the last 3 years many staffing changes have been made to increase customer service standards, to be accountable and to align staffing needs with Northgate; CityHousing Hamilton s new software system. The Board of Directors directed staff to review the current operational staffing requirements and provide a recommendation on the staffing needs. Based on the staffing analysis, it is recommended that 8 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions be added to the current staffing compliment. 3 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions have been filled since September 2012 on a temporary basis to meet operational requirements at a cost of $202,000 since the implementation of Northgate. The 8 recommended positions include these 3 positions. The total cost of the 8 Date: May 30, 2013 Page 1 of 10

2 positions is $658,000 for The savings generated by reducing vacancy loss alone will offset the cost of these positions and generate 1.7 million dollars in revenue over the next 4 years. In addition to the reduction in vacancy loss, these 8 positions will reduce costs in many other areas which are listed under each position below. The Scheduler and Complaint Officer are new positions being created at CityHousing Hamilton to increase efficiency and governance. The Scheduler position is a necessary requirement for Northgate to schedule work for internal staff and will increase efficiency. The Complaint Officer position is created to govern, track and investigate tenant complaints. BACKGROUND: CityHousing Hamilton (CHH) owns and provides property management service to 7035 residential units. As a result of an Operational Review on CityHousing Hamilton in 2009, many major organizational changes were made over the last 3 years to implement the recommendations. Some of these changes resulted in increased responsibilities for staff without any additional staff FTE s added to existing positions. This has resulted in staff burn out, increased sick time, lack of follow through on projects/commitments and low staff morale. DISCUSSION: The finance and rationale is discussed below for each position. FINANCE: 2013 Year end 2013 Year end 2014 Year end 2015 Year end 2016 (1) Revenue $67,456,863 $68,806,000 $70,182,120 $71,585,763 $73,017,478 (2) Vacancy loss at 4.16% $2,804,696 $2,862,330 $2,919,576 $2,977,968 $3,037,527 (3) Number of additional units that will be rented annually with additional staff (4) Projected number of vacant units (5) Projected annual reduction in vacancy loss $0.00 $239, $418, $426, $435, (6) Accumulated reduction in vacancy loss $0.00 $239, $657, $1,084, $1,520, (7) Reduction in cost of 3 FTE's currently filled $0.00 $101, $206, $210, $214, (8) Total Cost of 8 FTEs $329, $671, $684, $698, (9) Net to CityHousing Hamilton $11, $192, $610, $1,036, Assumptions 1) Revenue increases by 2% annually 2) Vacancy loss at 4.16% of revenue based on current staffing complement. Current vacancy rate is 4.16% 3) Projected number of units that can be filled based on additional staffing (6 per month) 4) Total number of units that will be vacant at the end of the year 5)Vacancy loss reduction based on renting number of units outlined in (3) 6) Vacancy loss reduction accumulation year over year 7) 3 FTE's are filled on a temporary basis at a cost of $202,000 for Cost increased by 2% per year 8) Total cost of 8 FTE's based on 2013 salary $658,000 increased 2% annually 9) Net for CityHousing - negative values in brackets Date: May 30, 2013 Page 2 of 10

3 RATIONALE: Property Managers (PM) The rationale, benefit and cost analysis is identified for each of the requested positions below. There are 13 Property Managers who manage 7,035 units with an average portfolio size of 541 residential units. The expectation from the Property Managers has changed over the years to comply with the Operations Review, align with the Strategic Plan and support the Tenant Engagement Strategy. Property Managers play a vital role at CityHousing Hamilton as they are responsible for tenants, staff, budgets, day-to-day operations and meeting all legislative requirements. The following are new initiatives that have been recently implemented: 1) Opening new site offices and having scheduled on-site office hours Regular on-site office hours have been scheduled at 26 locations so that tenants can meet the Property Manager to address their concerns. Nine of these offices were newly created. 2) Semi-annual tenant meetings 52 tenant meetings were conducted in 2012 at various locations. Tenant meetings require a lot of planning and provide a great opportunity for tenants to get to know CHH staff and bring up community or individual concerns. 3) Annual inspections of all CHH units In 2012, 3625 tenant units were inspected and health and safety and emergency work in these units were completed. In 2013, all 7035 units will be inspected. 4) Pre- and Post-inspection of day-to-day maintenance work completed by contractors Over the last 6 months, 1828 inspections (Appendix A) were conducted by Property Managers. These inspections ensure tenants are receiving quality work and service from contractors. 5) Creating unit turnover work orders that very specifically identify what maintenance work is to be completed by the contractor Over the last 6 months the Property Managers have created 395 unit turnover work orders. The unit turnover work orders are very specific and can have up to 40 line items of work required per work order. Date: May 30, 2013 Page 3 of 10

4 In addition to the above new responsibilities, more than 50% of the Property Mangers have worked with CityHousing Hamilton for more than 20 years. The experienced staff have enabled CityHousing Hamilton to provide quality service to our tenants, but their vacation entitlement and sick time, caused by the extra work, has negatively impacted the day-to-day operations at CityHousing Hamilton. Nearly 30% of the Property Managers have worked at CityHousing Hamilton for 25 years or more and will be retiring over the next few years. The tacit knowledge loss for the organization will greatly impact the service we can provide to our tenants once the veteran PM s retire. The chart below provides a summary of the years the service at CHH by Property Managers: Number of Property Year of service Managers 0-4 years years years years years 3 25 years and over 4 The total vacation entitlement for all the PM s is 481 days for As there was 246 working days in 2012, the total vacation entitlement is equal to 2 property managers work load. The total sick days recorded for Property Managers for 2012 was 88 days which resulted in additional work to the Property Mangers. Benefit The 2 additional FTE s will enable Property Managers to address the following: 1. Vacation and sick day coverage 2. Ensuring tacit knowledge is retained within the organization 3. Increased percentage of work done by contractors being inspected 4. Reducing arrears 5. Common area and building inspections 6. Garbage control and removal of bins 7. Addressing tenant complaints promptly 8. Tenant parking process improved Date: May 30, 2013 Page 4 of 10

5 Cost Analysis In addition to the reduction in vacancy loss, there are many areas where these positions would reduce costs for CityHousing Hamilton. Arrears will be reduced by Property Managers. As of March 31 st, 2013 the rent arrears for CityHousing Hamilton was $687,953. This amount will be reduced by at least $200,000 by the end of 2014 with 2 additions FTEs. The total cost for both FTEs with benefits would be less than $200,000 per year. Property Management Assistant (PMA) Currently, CHH employs 13 Property Management Assistants; one PMA is assigned to work exclusively on the First Place Portfolio. For the purpose of this report, this position will be excluded in demonstrations. PMA's currently work in teams of three; within each team two (2) PMA's are assigned to work on rent calculations and arrears, and one (1) PMA is assigned to maintenance. Each team supports three (3) Property Managers and on average manages 1594 units. The PMA role is a multi-functional role and each PMA is expected to be knowledgeable of rent calculations/arrears and maintenance. The function of the PMA is time sensitive, as notices in regards to annual renewals must be sent out to our tenants in a timely manner to ensure that we are in compliance with date specific requirements of the Housing Services Act, During peak periods, an additional FTE will allow us the opportunity to review files to ensure that tenant reviews are completed and legislation processes are completed in order to verify rent-geared-to-income subsidy. Without proper follow-up with our tenants, a tenant's rent is increased to market rent which affects our rental arrears statistics and results in unnecessary and costly legal action. Over the last 6 months, 11,282 work orders have been issued and completed at CityHousing Hamilton (Appendix B). There are 3 maintenance PMA s and 2 Maintenance Administrators who created these work orders, they are responsible for nearly 400 work orders per month or 20 work orders per day. Because of the number of work orders being created daily, staff do not have time to follow up with contractors to ensure that the work is getting done on a timely basis. The additional FTE will allow us the opportunity to follow-up on outstanding work orders and invoices. Date: May 30, 2013 Page 5 of 10

6 Due to our current workload, Maintenance Administrators are assisting with the function of creating work orders and as a result they are not doing the work that was originally intended for this position, which is quality control by inspecting work completed by contractors and resolving challenges with billing and contractors. The additional FTE will also provide the opportunity to backfill vacant positions during vacations and illnesses. Benefit The additional FTE will enable PMA s to address the following: 1. Vacation and sick day coverage 2. Ensure compliance to legislation 3. Follow up on work orders not completed by contractors 4. Reduce the number of tenants whose rents are increased to market rent due to paperwork not being completed 5. Reduced hardship to tenants by avoiding legal costs associated with not submitting paperwork Cost Analysis There are many areas where these positions would reduce costs for CityHousing Hamilton but the most measurable area would be freeing up the MA s who would have more opportunity to conduct inspections and review invoices to ensure all the work billed for is completed by the contractor. The total cost for this FTE including benefits would be less than $75,000. Tenant Placement Representative (TPR) The Tenant Placement Team currently consists of two (2) Promotional and Marketing Officers, three (3) Tenant Placement Representatives and one (1) temporary Tenant Placement Representative. The role of this team is to rent vacant CityHousing Hamilton units. One Promotional Marketing Officer is dedicated to the First Place portfolio. Each Tenant Placement Representative is responsible for approximately 1200 units. On average, CHH has 120 unit turnovers per month. As of March 31 st, there were 552 vacant units. The vacancy loss budget for 2013 is 2.8 million dollars. Even with the assistance of a temporary TPR, staff are still struggling to keep up with the demand to fill units. Date: May 30, 2013 Page 6 of 10

7 The TPR must review the Access to Housing waiting list to match vacant units with applicants. This process is time consuming and tedious as each applicant has the right to view and refuse 3 different units. As such, organizing the viewing of the units, recording the refusals with Access to Housing, completing the credit check and the landlord references and creating the lease are time consuming steps that go along with each new tenant moving into our units. Benefit The additional 2 FTE will enable the TPR s to address the following: 1. Fill vacant units faster 2. Reduce the Access to Housing wait list 3. Reduce the vacancy loss for the organization 4. Spending more time with tenants when providing housing Cost Analysis These positions will directly impact the reduction of vacancy loss. The cost for these 2 positions including benefits is less than $150,000. At this time we have one position filled on a temporary basis, as such the net cost would be less than $75,000. Operations Administrative Assistant (OAA) Since the fall of 2012 we have had to hire 2 temporary administrative support personnel to meet operations requirements. These positions provide support in the following areas: Administrative support to the Tenant Placement Section: creating lease packages, conducting landlord references, credit checks, photocopying, filing. Administrative support to the Operations Section: manually preparing over 2000 tax receipt letters, back up receptionist, filing, creating reports in Excel to assist maintenance staff to follow-up on outstanding work orders Assisting with completion work orders in Northgate Data entry of all annual unit inspection reports created by Property Managers Creating notices to tenants including 24 hour Notices of entry Date: May 30, 2013 Page 7 of 10

8 Benefit The additional FTE will enable the OAA s to address the following: 1. Provide administrative support to the PM, PMA and TPR 2. Provide prompt response to tenant requests such as tax receipts 3. Help with entering annual inspection results to an electronic format Cost Analysis Currently we have 2 employees filling these positions on a temporary basis. Filling 1 positions will reduce the current cost allocated for these positions. The cost for a full time position would be less than $65,000. Complaints Officer Documenting and addressing tenant complaints in a consistent timely manner is important to tenants, CityHousing Hamilton staff and the Board of Directors.. Currently, nearly 40 different staff are in positions where they can receive complaints from tenants. As such, we are not able to address tenant complaints in a consistent manner. By creating a position that will exclusively oversee the investigation and follow up on tenant complaints we can ensure that all tenant complaints are documented and followed up in a professional and consistent manner. Benefit The additional FTE will enable the Complaints Officer to address the following: 1. Be a point person for all CHH complaints 2. Send tenants an acknowledgement letter within 3 days of receipt of the complaint 3. Work with staff to provide a resolution to the complaints within 15 days 4. Provide the Board of Directors a quarterly summary on complaints Cost Analysis Since this would be a new position there is no cost estimate related to this position. There is also no real financial cost saving associated with this position but the intangible benefit and goodwill that will be built will definitely outweigh the cost associated with this position. Date: May 30, 2013 Page 8 of 10

9 Scheduler Over the last 6 months 3506 work orders were issued to 30 internal staff. Internal staff include Custodians, Maintenance Handy Men, Superintendents and Grounds staff. When Northgate software system was purchased, a scheduling tool called Kirona was also purchased. Kirona enables a Scheduler to manage the work load for each site staff by scheduling the daily work requirements. The scheduler will call tenants and book appointments, schedule work orders to site staff and reschedule work when required. This will result in site staff spending less time trying to gain access to tenants units and more time doing maintenance work. The Scheduler position will enable us to maximize the use of Northgate and be efficient in completing internal work orders. Benefit The additional FTE will enable the Scheduler to address the following: 1. Ensure internal work orders are being completed in a timely manner 2. Ensure all internal staff are properly utilized 3. Provide outstanding customer service to tenants by scheduling a time when the work will be done in advance 4. Utilizing Northgate systems to its capacity. Cost Analysis Since this would be a new position there is no cost estimate related to this position. There is potential savings related to utilizing internal staff to their capacity. This position will also enable us to identify the whereabouts of internal staff when dealing with complaints. CONCLUSION: CityHousing Hamilton is committed to providing outstanding customer service to our tenants. The additional 8 FTEs will certainly make a significant impact on the service levels and intangible benefits to our tenants. These positions will not only pay for themselves but will also generate 1.7 million dollars in revenue over the next 4 years. Date: May 30, 2013 Page 9 of 10

10 OPERATIONAL PLAN: This report implements: Goal 2. Maintain and Improve Building Conditions - Ensure that the CityHousing Hamilton portfolio is managed effectively and sensitively and is in a good state of repair to meet the affordable housing requirements of Hamilton residents now and in the future. Goal 3 Create Healthy, Secure Communities - Ensure that Hamilton residents have access to affordable housing opportunities and support initiatives that will enhance quality-of-life, increase client empowerment and decrease dependency RG/ Date: May 30, 2013 Page 10 of 10