Overview: Windham & Windsor Housing Trust is transitioning to a more efficient application process designed to reduce wait times, and expedite the leasing process for open apartments.
The new system of applying for apartments within WWHT’s affordable housing portfolio is beginning the process of moving away from a traditional Legacy Waitlist – a lengthy and cumbersome mail-based application process – to a new Notification system that is entirely email-based. The active names on the waitlist will be cycled through before the full to the new system is complete.
Beginning November 15th, applicants will go to WWHT’s website, homemattershere.org, and fill out a very brief form with their name, household size and email address. Once the existing waitlist has been exhausted, applicants will automatically receive notifications via email when apartments become available, and should be ready to submit their completed application if the unit matches their preferences. Applications will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Applicants who are already on the legacy waitlist have been mailed a postcard directly about the change, and must respond to confirm their status and current contact information in order to maintain priority standing on the waitlist. Existing applicants have until November 12th to respond; if no response is received, the applicant will be removed from the legacy waitlist to create an active and efficient list. Leasing agents will continue to cycle through the confirmed list of existing applicants before implementing the new system. Existing applicants who wish to remain on the legacy waitlist should contact Leasing at (802) 246-2124, or mgero@homemattershere.org.
Note: This change does not apply to Permanent Supportive Housing Sites
What is the process and why is this transition happening?
We are making some changes to speed up the time it takes to fill vacant units at the Housing Trust, but we are not simply abruptly eliminating our wait list. Importantly- this transition has no impact on the permanent supportive housing leasing process. We have designed a transition that allows folks who are already on the current waiting list to maintain their priority status if they choose. To launch this transition, we’ve sent out a postcard asking folks to let us know if they want to stay on the list. If folks do not respond, they will be removed from the list. On the same day we sent the postcard, we hosted the meeting with case managers so they were informed on the transition and what steps their clients can take now.
Once the list is paired down to people who have let us know they want to remain on it, we will continue to use these waitlists whenever there is a vacancy. However, if the person on the waitlist declines an apartment when it is offered, they will be removed from the wait list and put on the notification list. This is how over time, we will transition to the new process. Once the wait list is fully transitioned to the notification list process, we will announce vacancies to everyone on the list as well as all the case managers. At that point, we will process completed applications as they arrive. The sign up for the notification list will include a place for two email addresses so that if an applicant would like to include their case manager on the notification, they can do so. If they don’t have an email, the notification can be sent to their case manager on their behalf. In addition, we will be advertising vacancies in the newspaper so there will be other ways for people to become aware of housing.
The reason why we are making this transition is that our waitlist contains thousands of people and our leasing agent often has to mail out hundreds of letters before landing on an applicant who is interested in that particular apartment at that particular time. We send letters about vacancies in batches of 20 and wait 2 weeks for a response before going on to the next group of 20. Sometimes, event when we have applicant, they will decline the apartment after being fully processed and ready to lease up. At this point, the process starts all over again. Because of this, we are holding vacancies longer than is necessary and our staff spend an inordinate amount of time and expense on mailings. In a housing crisis, we feel that our current process is preventing us from fulfilling our mission.
At the meeting with the case managers, we also announced another change that will streamline the process. For those applicants with a checking account, they will no longer be required to submit 6 months of bank statements. Instead, they will only be required to submit 1 statement. We also identified a potential issue that may disproportionately impact applicants who are on social security disability because it can take time to receive a benefits letter (which has a ‘shelf life’ of 90 days). We brainstormed a solution to this in the meeting so that if an applicant is waiting for a hard copy of the benefits letter their application can still be considered complete.
This policy was carefully considered from a lot of perspectives and reviewed by our board and our attorney. We modeled it off Downstreet Housing’s process, serving Central Vermont, and they found that once the transition was made, the case managers actually found it easier to help their clients access housing and we’re expecting this to happen at the Housing Trust as well. It will allow anyone looking for housing to apply whenever there is a vacancy rather than waiting for years for their number to come up. And we’ve crafted the transition such that anyone who is currently on the waitlist has the opportunity to maintain their status during the transition.
