Final research paper for 710

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Minneapolis Public Housing Research Paper

Tiffany Burgi

School of Business, Liberty University

Author Note

Tiffany R. Burgi

I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tiffany R. Burgi.

Email: [email protected]

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Abstract

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority Housing Choice Voucher program has issues with

the length of its waitlist, the randomized lottery, the program participants' self-sufficiency and

staff morale. For the waitlist length, there are two areas of interest that need repair in order to fix

the issues. The first problem area is to not allow participants to not be moving forward to self-

sufficiency and remain in the program. The other issue necessary to fix is the randomized lottery,

which may be done if the organization words towards only allowing people that should qualify

for the program on the waitlist. Additionally, the leadership needs to learn and implement team

building skills to help with staff morale along with having open communication with the

program staff.

Keywords: waitlist length, randomized lottery, self-sufficiency, staff morale

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Minneapolis Public Housing Research Paper

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority has been serving the city of Minneapolis,

Minnesota, since 1991 as an independent agency. Minneapolis Public Housing Authority has a

public housing program and a Housing Choice Voucher program, formally known as Section 8.

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority's mission statement is

The mission of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority is to promote and deliver

quality, well-managed homes to a diverse low income population and, with partners,

contribute to the well-being of the individuals, families and community we serve.

(Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, 2019)

This research paper will be focusing on the Housing Choice Voucher program and the staff at

Minneapolis Public Housing Authority.

Rational System

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority's Housing Choice Voucher program is a mix

of a rational system organization and a natural system organization.;Organizations and

Organizingdefines the rational system as, "organizations are collectivities oriented to the pursuit

of relatively specific goals and exhibiting relatively high formalized social structures" (Scott &

Davis, 2016). The rational side of the organization is that they have rules in place by the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that they need to adhere to while

administering a Housing Choice Voucher program. Like all public housing, residents are not

permitted to smoke inside the property and they are not allowed to smoke within twenty-five feet

of the housing project (Fagundes & Roberts, 2019). For the Minneapolis Public Housing

Authority to continuously receive the funding they need, the organization must be in compliance

with the HUD rules. Furthermore, the file needs to be kept and processed in a particular way in

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order to stay in compliance and they are randomly checked by the authority and HUD to ensure

the files are processed correctly. By having the organization follow these kinds of regulations

and compliances has them fit in the rational system.;

Natural System

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority are also a natural system

organization.;Organizations and Organizingdefines the Natural system as, "organizations are

congeries of interdependent flows and activities linking shifting coalitions of participants

embedded in wider material-resource and institutional environments" (Scott & Davis, 2016).

This comes into the areas where Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allows

public housing agencies to develop their own agency programs, and how they handle their

waitlist are an example of just two of those ways. The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority has

the Stable Families, Education Success, Wellness program and that is not a requirement of HUD

to provide enrichment to the community they serve (Minneapolis Public Housing Authority,

2019). The structure of a natural system is an informal structure, and there can be smaller formal

structures within the informal structure. Still, those formal structures do not consist of the

overarching structure, and this is true for the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority

(Development and Learning in Organizations, 2021). Furthermore, the Minneapolis Public

Housing Authority does have a formal structure to them, and within the organization, they have

smaller informal ones and also smaller formal ones.;

Waitlists

Nationally the Housing Choice Voucher program is the largest subsidized housing

program available for low income adults (Garboden, 2021). The Minneapolis Public Housing

Authority's Housing Choice Voucher program has been problematic over the years. Often, some

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waitlists can be as long as five to ten years before anyone is even able to begin the process to see

if they are fully qualified for the program. The basic requirements to qualify for a Housing

Choice Voucher program are disability and income. One of the most significant problematic

aspects to the voucher program is the length and it impacts on new applicants because new

participants cannot be added to the program until a voucher becomes available, which, as

previously stated, could take five to ten years. "Not all eligible households receive a voucher,

rather their names are placed on a waitlist that, in many communities, may be years in length"

(Colburn, 2019, p. 1467). Voucher availability can happen in several ways. One way is if the

agency gets more funding for the program to create more vouchers for individuals or families.

Another way is if a participant passes away and there is no suitable family member to pass the

voucher onto to maintain subsidy for the family unit. Another possible reason could be if the

head of the household becomes ineligible or gets terminated from the program. The final reason

is if the head of the household relinquishes the voucher back to the housing authority, which

does not happen often.;

Self-Sufficiency

Another issues within the Housing Choice Voucher program is that fact that it does not

promote its participants to become self-sufficient. The way the program is set up it allows the

participants to take advantage of the program without working toward becoming self-sufficient.

The Housing Choice Voucher allows non-disabled adults to stay on the program without

requiring them to work. If a participant is not working and has no income, they are often only

required to pay roughly $50 toward their monthly rent. However, if the Minneapolis Public

Housing Authority is going to pay their rent monthly it reduces or removes their motivation to

make improvements to their situation in order for them to become more self-sufficient. Since the

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Minneapolis Public Housing Authority does not incentivize people to become self-sufficient,

they are allowing people to take advantage of the program by keeping the waitlist long, and

preventing others who genuinely need the help this program provides from receiving assistance.;

Randomized Lottery

The randomized lottery for getting onto the Housing Choice Voucher program waitlist is

also an significant issue. When a spot on the waitlist opens up, there is often a several day period

in which the applications will be taken. From there, the applications are turned into a randomized

lottery and are not based on whether or not they meet the eligibility, rather it is just on the

physical or electronic application that was made and turned in (Carr & Koppa, 2020), which then

the predetermined amount of waitlist spots are chosen. However, this means that if there was a

convicted drug felon or someone who makes too much money to be eligible for the program,

they could win one of the much desired spots on the waitlist, which prevents someone living on

social security and potentially with a disability from receiving a spot on the waitlist. A

problematic aspects regarding the lottery is the fact that the questions asked during the

application are not verified, which is how people are able to get into the lottery and then get a

spot on the waitlist. Once those individuals get to the top of the waitlist, they then have to go

through a screening. The screening process is when the housing authority would know the person

is ineligible for the housing.;

Employee Morale!

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority has many employees to run the various

programs. However, the morale of the staff is not good, and the employees do not trust the

leadership. When the staff morale in on the decline in a workplace, the motivation to want to

excel in their position is not there (Evans, 2015). For example, there was a time when an

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Eligibility Technician staff member left the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority to work with

another local housing authority for less pay because there was no positive morale or trust in the

agency. More often than not, the Eligibility Technician staff do not feel appreciated for the work

they do. They have felt like the agency has too high of productivity expectations for the Housing

Choice Voucher program staff. Furthermore, they have also thought for the amount of work they

do, they are not well compensated. Due to the negative work environment, there is a high

turnover rate for the Eligibility Technician staff in the Housing Choice Voucher program.;

Bible Incite

"Open your mouth. Be right and fair in what you decide. Stand up for the rights of those

who are suffering and in need" (Proverbs 31:9, New Living Translation). Solomon led this

example in his life, and at the core of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, they are trying

and succeeding at it in some ways (Merida, 2015). If we look at the Minneapolis Public Housing

Authority's Housing Choice Voucher program, many could say they are doing good by providing

housing. In the Bible, they are promised housing "and my God will give you everything you

need because of His great riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19, New Living Translation).

Housing is a basic need that when this verse is read, many would come to believe God will

provide for them and the Housing Choice Voucher program is just one of the ways that the

Minneapolis Public Housing Authority is doing that. However, when it comes to how the

randomized lottery is done, it does not feel fair in its simplest form. The kingdoms people live in

should be dealt with fairly and justly (Merida, 2015). Ultimately, the Minneapolis Public

Housing Authority has areas that are in line with biblical principles, and in other areas, they need

to find and develop strategies for improvements.;

Solutions

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Waitlist Length

Self-sufficiency

To work on the length of the waitlist and it being five to ten years at times, there are a

few things that can be done to improve the timeline and assist it altogethert. One way to possibly

fix the long waitlist issues is to move single-member households that are non-disabled

participants into a clarification that they cannot stay on subsidized housing for more than five

years without some kind of prove that they are advancing toward becoming self-sufficiency.

Participants being onboarded would have to, within their first five years on the program, be

working, be in school or attend some kind of training program to remain on the Housing Choice

Voucher program. This expectation would not apply to house households where the head of the

household was disabled, per the government, single parents, or where the head of households

contributed more than the agency minimums towards the monthly rent. However, if someone

cannot or will not try to move themself to become self-sufficient somehow, the government

should not be willing to help them when they are not willing to improve their situation. For the

participants currently in the Housing Choice Voucher program that should not be allowed to stay

in the program may require changes for them to be handled a little differently. Current

participants need to be allowed more time to come into compliance with the policy changes.

Over one-year current participants will be told about the transition to the program at their annual

recertification, however, there will be a buffer year to allow those participants to evaluate

whether or not they want to remain on the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority program, move

into a different housing authority or move towards becoming self-sufficient. After that buffer

year, their five year time period will begin. The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority will also

have resources availble for the participants to start the process of becoming self-sufficient.

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Randomized Lottery

The randomized lottery is not an effective system to help those that are qualified for the

Housing Choice Voucher program receive the assistance that they truly require. There are two

way that could possibly remedy this voucher issue. One potential solution is when the

application time frame opens up, instead of using a randomized lottery system to accept all

applications as they are submitted for the order of the waitlist, they should be excluding the

automatic preferences like disability and current residency. When those that entered onto the list

that should not have been on the list get to the top, they should be quickly be eliminated, and the

agency can move on to the next person on the list. One other way that could possibly happen is

to have more checking in during the time when applications windows open to ensure the people

who are more than likely qualified can make it onto the waitlist, which is a way that can also

give those on the waitlist a more realistic estimate of the time they will be on that waitlist before

receiving a voucher. Ultimately, there needs to be a better way for the waitlist to be comprised of

those that truly need housing and qualify for it.;

Employee Morale!

The best way to deal with the low employee morale among the Eligibility Technician

staff is to find the root of the issue. One way the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority could

help with the trust of leadership is by establishing opportunities for open communication with its

employees. When leadership manages the communication in the workplace, it can provide a safe

space for employees to feel like they know what is happening in the workplace (Orui &

Yasumura, 2019). Open communication will also make the staff feel more appreciated because

they would feel like they are in the know of what is happening in their workspace. Another

possible remedy that could be helpful is for the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority team

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building that is currently for the management, but should also be with the current Eligibility

Technicians staff. The training should be done separately and together because the management

needs to learn skills that will be used in the day-to-day in the agency to promote team building

(Khan & Wajidi, 2019). The reason they should also do team building together with the

Eligibility Technicians staff is to build the current team at the agency. As for being overworked

and underpaid, the management needs to evaluate the current workload and to ensure that

overtime pay no longer reflects the times and to ensure that the workload has not been increased

to become unmanageable for the employees.;

Conclusion

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority Housing Choice Voucher program is not

without its issues, which is similar to any workplace. The voucher program has elements of both

a rational system workplace and a natural system workplace. The program does have federal

rules they need to be following to maintain their funding in order to provide programming. They

also have some freedom to make their own programs within the organizations and some freedom

in how they go about running their Housing Choice Voucher program, as long as they are in

compliance with Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with the end result.

The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority Housing Choice Voucher does have issues that need

to be addressed with the length of their waitlist. There are also issues when a program is allowing

participants to take advantage of them by not become self-sufficient and ultimately becoming

dependent on government help to survive. Furthermore, there are also issues to address with who

is allowed on the waitlist when there are others that are deserving of housing being blocked out

from even getting onto the waitlist. Additionally, the staff morale is too low in the Housing

Choice Voucher program department and, to remedy this there is team building that needs to take

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place. To reiterate, the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority Housing Choice Voucher program

has issues just like any another workplace. However, their issues are able to be remedied if the

Minneapolis Public Housing Authority decides those problems are important enough to be

assessed.

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