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Property Operations and Management: How to Mitigate Risk Through Effective Partnership and Engagement

This section offers guidance on how to meaningfully engage residents and the community to ensure successful long-term housing operations.

In any housing development venture, it is critical to recognize and plan for all potential challenges that may arise upon operation. Housing providers, in partnership with service providers, management companies and their residents can establish processes, structures and practices to mitigate risk. As discussed in Section 7, risk mitigation is most effective in the context of a solid partnership between a housing provider and service provider, where roles and responsibilities are clearly defined.

Mitigate risk through partnership and shared principles

The solid partnership between housing provider, management and service provider should be reflected in the following principles of property management, in coordination with service provider staff where appropriate, and as outlined by and adapted from the Corporation for Supportive Housing’s Supportive Housing Toolkit:

  • Tenant-centered: Property management staff, in partnership with service-provider staff, educates tenants on their rights and responsibilities as leaseholders, actively soliciting, and when necessary responding to, tenant feedback. Taking a tenant-centered approach involves establishing clear mechanisms to regularly solicit, receive and respond to tenant feedback.
  • Accessible: Tenants are able to move into housing quickly, and the process accommodates their varying backgrounds and cultural needs.
  • Coordinated: Property management staff works closely with service providers and landlords to ensure tenants sustain stable housing through engagement in the services and supports appropriate for their individual needs and interests.
  • Integrated: All tenants are offered a choice of housing unit and have a lease identical to tenants not in supportive housing. This is particularly important in residential settings that provide a mix of supportive and affordable housing.
  • Sustainable: While respecting tenant rights and privacy, staff regularly check to ensure that the unit remains in good condition and receives any needed maintenance in order to promote safety, stability and pride in residency.

Mitigate risk through relationships

Risk mitigation in housing for formerly incarcerated people comes down to simple, actionable principles based on trust and belief in the possibility of personal growth and transformation. Ultimately, these principles center on establishing trust through the demonstration of elevated expectations while offering high levels of support.

Actively engage with individual residents

The first critical step on the journey to creating a well-functioning, safe and stable residence is getting to know the individuals who live there. It begins with the admissions process and need not involve a criminal background check of any kind, or a very limited one as funding sources may require. What is important is assessing the person’s commitment to protecting and enhancing their own well-being including their willingness to engage in services in a supportive housing model and their readiness to participate as a member of the community.

In a supportive housing setting, ongoing case management is critical to sustaining the individual well-being of tenants, and thus of the entire residential community. Residents’ needs, interests and goals evolve over time, and a caring case manager can provide invaluable emotional support and practical resources to help someone along their reentry journey.

Regular engagement also provides critical support if someone experiences major life stressors such as losing a job or a family member. A case manager with frequent resident contact will know if someone appears to need crisis intervention for issues such as worsening substance use disorder, shifting mental health issues, or a sudden onset of physical ailments. They can connect a resident who is ready and interested in workforce development to relevant programming in-house or via referrals, and they can provide general coaching on how to navigate the responsibilities of tenancy.

In congregate settings, offering supportive services on site is an excellent risk mitigation practice as it affords residents easy access to case managers and others. In scattered site supportive housing models, it's essential to prioritize easy access to supportive services for tenants. The level of accessibility should be a significant factor in the selection process of service providers.

For example, the service provider should ensure that case managers will travel to meet with their clients in person – something that has become challenging in the post-pandemic era of people preferring to work remotely. It is imperative that the service provider offer the salaries and supports to retain experienced, trained case managers. For services beyond case management that cannot be provided on site such as employment, education, substance use and mental health treatment, residents must have the physical and financial means to access those services.

Promote authentic community engagement as a shared value and practice

When people feel invested in their communities, they are less likely to cause any kind of harm within those communities – that includes both fellow residents and neighbors. If we provide people with a place to live where they feel cared for, and where they are expected to demonstrate care for their community, they will gladly rise to the occasion. When a sense of community is fostered among residents in a congregate, supportive housing setting, the resulting cohesion serves as a self-regulating mechanism.

Hold community meetings: “The answer is in the room.”

Simple, effective methods of fostering a sense of community include holding regular community meetings for all building residents, property management, service-provider staff and, whenever possible, external leadership in transitional/emergency and permanent supportive housing. Encouraging past residents of transitional housing to continue attending for their own benefit, to maintain supportive relationships, also has the added benefit that they may serve as examples of hope and progress to current residents.

The Fortune Society began the practice of holding community meetings in their flagship transitional supportive housing development, the Fortune Academy, in 2002. When Fortune opened Castle Gardens next door, the residents, who had previously lived in the Academy, were encouraged to continue attending. These “alums” of the Academy have proven themselves to be invaluable, stabilizing forces in meetings, offering wisdom to people who have been recently released from prison, or who are struggling with many of the barriers to reentry outlined in Sections 1-2.

The meetings are run in a non-clinical, restorative circle format, are facilitated by Fortune leadership or staff, and attended by Fortune staff who work on site. The purpose of the meetings is to foster a sense of community cohesion and residential ownership. Residents share about how things are going in the residence and staff respond to current or past issues, they celebrate when residents have good news and offer support when residents face challenges. A commonly invoked phrase is “the answer is in the room,” meaning residents and staff together can work through challenges, come up with plans of action to address issues, and resolve conflicts. This mantra reflects a belief in the potential of residents to engage in productive conversations, and respect for their role in maintaining a safe, stable living environment for all residents.

Another simple way of creating residential ownership, pride and cohesion is requiring morning and evening check-ins in shared community space, facilitated by more established, longer-term residents. These check-ins – without property management or service provider staff – provide an even more informal setting for residents to offer each other support and attempt to resolve any issues that have arisen between residents.

Maintain safety through peer residential aides

Rather than hire outside security, The Fortune Society hired a cadre of residential aides to cover shifts adding up to 24/7 on-site coverage. Many of these residential aides are former Fortune clients, and are therefore particularly well-equipped to understand the challenges facing residents and offer guidance.

Fortune does not have metal detectors or other screening mechanisms in any of its residences because such measures are re-traumatizing to people who have been incarcerated, and they are not necessary to promote building safety. The intentionally fostered cohesion in the residential community promotes effective self-regulation.

Maintain good neighborhood relations: Internal community cohesion reflects outward

Residents of a cohesive supportive housing residential community are much more likely to be excellent neighbors as they are invested in maintaining the collective reputation of the housing initiative. When all stakeholders are aware of the importance of maintaining good community relations, they rise to the occasion. Studies show that housing stabilizes people who have been incarcerated, enhancing their ability to be good tenants and good neighbors.

In both the human services and real estate sectors, achieving success often involves taking calculated risks. Operating supportive housing for formerly incarcerated individuals entails inherent risks, as they may require various supports to sustain their housing; however, these risks can be minimized by offering comprehensive supportive services and promoting a sense of community within the residential environment.

As Pastor K.L. Jennings of Kingdom Builders said, “I am concerned with people’s destiny, not their history.” In partnership, and with planning and patience, offering someone a safe, stable place to live allows them to not only dream of their destiny, but to work towards it.

Resources

The following resources informed the contents of this section:

This section was also informed by the author’s participation in numerous Fortune Academy Community Meetings over 18 months, conversations with countless current and former Fortune Academy residents, Fortune staff, and leadership, including Benjamin Metsch, chief strategy officer.

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