Launch an initiative stemming tenant fraud by: 1) requiring that all residents with children file in Court for Child Support without exception. Reason: Non-custodial parents often do not return the Verification forms; custodial parents claim they do not have an address to send the verification form to...they have not made "every legal effort" to obtain the child support due them, yet there's no real back up for property managers to require that they do so...despite the language in the regulations. "In-kind" contributions are rarely reported.
2) Obtain the cooperation of the US Postal Service in allowing property managers' access to the names of all individuals receiving mail at the address - would help us in cases of Unauthorized Occupants. These cases usually involve Unreported Income.
3) Work with Housing Court Judges and Specialists (Attorneys General, perhaps) so they understand that violations other than Non-Payment are indeed serious lease violations.
4) Include a line item in the budget for private detectives - in order to establish Unauthorized Occupants...at least occasionally - to send a message that it can be accomplished on HUD properties.
5) Count vehicles in some way; we have non-custodial parents who "do not pay child support", however, they provide a vehicle and insurance for the custodial parent who is a resident...much newer than any vehicle that I could afford as property manager.

Coyote Medicine, by Dr. Lewis Madrona, a native American MD, talks about doctors. Doctors are the extreme of what ails our culture. They are overwhelmed in med school with all kinds of disconnected knowledge, that is not holistic. The result is a medical system that is No. 1 worldwide for cost per capita, and No. 72 among nations for results. You are getting closer to a holistic goal, but you aren't there yet. You have metaphorically put most of the engine together, and 3 of the 4 wheels, but you still need to install a few parts before you can drive this baby on the road. So. If you actually applied all those good ideas, and the other good ideas you'll pick up on the way- what would you have? If we already had ideal communities, magnificent places to live, that most if not all agreed were wonderful paradises- what would we have? Because we don't know. We know only the pathology of the average. If you don't know, you won't get there. You'll be overwhelmed with detail that doesn't support the goal of health. You need a Vision, an image of that ideal community. You need it in pictures, and words that evoke pictures. Right now, we have the cans, but we don't have the plastic thing to hold them together. Right now, what we have is a vague desire to go somewhere, and we know something about the increments of how to get there. I remember when my child told me about going to Disneyworld. Was there talk of what kind of food there'd be on the plane, how long we'd wait in the security line, what kind of clothes to bring, whether we needed sunscreen? Oh no. There was just a POWERFUL VISION OF ALREADY BEING THERE, which filled that kid up with energy. That energy washed over the obstacles like a river in flood over a dam. All those technical details worked themselves out, in the process, and they weren't that difficult. The key was the VISION. Without Vision, the people perish. Shaun, Ron, what is your VISION? If you had to explain your vision to a 10 year old child, how would you do it? What would you say to them? If that 10 year old child was walking through that ideal community, what would they see, hear, and feel? How would they know it was ideal? We need that VISION. We'll know it's done right when it's so inspiring that people just leap in to help, when you have to add extra bandwidth to handle all the useful info coming in, sorted by topic, on a HUDWiki. You'll know it's done right when things start happening just like on a Habitat for Humanity site. You'll know it's done right when people joyfully report on positive indicators, and even make improving their neighborhood a competitive sport. That's how it is with anything that is fun. Fun sells itself. If you heard about a fun club, with a lot of good energy, a happening place - do you have to be forced to go there? No, you find a way. And the one thing this strategic plan lacks is FUN. Where is the fun? How can we make these hard, difficult tasks EASY LIKE THEY ARE FOR A CHILD, by making them fun? How can you hope to accomplish what you say you want, without making it all fun? Shaun, Ron, I'm walking through a community that benefitted from everything in the Strat Plan, in 2015. This place is magnificent, I love living here. I walk the streets. There's no crime- people have hope, and make more money in legal activity. There's no drugs, nobody wants to take the risk of selling them. There's no users, because people don't have emotional pain, they don't need to anesthetize themselves, they have so much more fun being sober. People help each other. There are arts and crafts, it is FUN to live in this community. People come to us from all over the world, to learn how we did it. This place is green- no pesticides are even sold. There are permaculture gardens with food plants, and urban agriculture, making the city green, green, green. There's no racial discrimination, it's too much fun to learn about other people and cultures. This city has it all. So, ok, Shaun and Ron: the plan as constituted has one end- where we are now. It lacks the other end- of the Vision, because not only do we need to plan going out to the Vision, we also need to backplan, from the results back to the chain of activities, to the now. Right now this is one-sided, and not nearly as focused as a Strat Plan needs to be. You mostly got the language of the grey lawyers in their grey suits in their grey offices with grey windows and computer screens out of this, which is good. Now how about we breathe some life into it, with a really inspiring Vision of what is possible? We need a plan that speaks to people (with web infrastructure support we don't have now), one where just about everybody would say, "Omigod! YESSSSSSSSS! I want this! This will be so much fun! How can I get started today? Who can I work with to make stuff happen right now?"

the emphasis on spending for new projects, should be on creating more numbers of units with basic amenities. rather than some of the pretty and middle class ideas of nicer and MORE EXPENSIVE units and neighborhoods.
WHY?
well, haven't you noticed? seems you haven't. WE have tons of homeless and huge wait lists! IT'S THE NUMBERS THAT COUNT. we simply need more units, and we need them fast. HUD should have a goal of reaching the full numbers of units that are needed. STOP listening to your buddies in the backroom who want nice projects , this is government business, and the government has to take care of the PEOPLE who are the intended beneficiaries of the programs. The tenants! STRETCH THE DOLLARS MUCH MORE THAN YOU HAVE BEEN. MORE UNITS, AT LOWER COST PER UNIT.

I created a plan, An insurance company agreed to write an affordable policy, open 4 months per year, business donate to pay electricity at nightime 65* and insurance, in exchange for advertising their name with it. The large cities would just need to donate one unused building. This would ensure no more of these people dye needlessly in America from hypothermia. This would help with crime, as these people are forced to converge on poverty neighborhoods, they are desparate and commit crimes, the people living there turn them in and face retaliation. It is a vicious circle, the police come and run them to another neighborhood. This would help the police find criminals that they are looking for, as well. The people who stay there every night in the winter, would need to form groups that take turns watching over things, in exchange for having a place like this open to them. Our cities and society have had a reverse phsycology with this issue, it make no sense, and where is the humanity?? HUD could certainly be involved in piloting this program, and could perhaps make proceeds from the business donations, that could help them with funding for other innovative programs. This would be a really cheap for of advertising for these donating businesses, and they love to have their name attatched to things that make them look good in their community. It is WIN....WIN....WIN....WIN....WIN...
Who knows, we could save the life of a potential future president, you would be amazed at how many children and teens endure winters on the streets.

...let homeless relatives move in with current HUD and Section 8 renters. If they are destitute, homeless, and otherwise qualified for the program , they should not be excluded by some arbitrary policies of local housing authorities. Take Portland Oregon for example, one of the highest levels of homelessness in the usa. That HA does not allow anyone , even a homeless close relative, to move in with a current HUD/ Section 8 resident with rare exceptions. Changing this across the board thru Federal level HUD regulation would address the growing and alarming epidemic of homelessness in the USA to a large degree. It is not apparently being done locally, so remove the discretion and require it to be allowed as a HUD regulation across the board in every HA. This is very cost effective way to house homeless and also relieves parents. children , etc of those homeless, of a seriously stressful difficult situation where they currently have to leave their loved ones out in the cold in winter. This kind of exclusion policy is a sort of callous disregard, or malfeasance, but it exists nonetheless. What a shame and disgrace, an unnecessary and unjustifiable tragedy.

There's an old saying heard over and over that "What gets measured is what gets managed." That's why we measure so many things, including the unimportant, in business. And yet when poor results from the measures are presented to management, they can be ignored or, worse yet, denied, as happened so often in the days leading up to the recent Great Recession. It's denial that's the concern of Richard Tedlow in his new book, Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face—and What to Do About It.

Tedlow, a business historian, defines denial as "the unwillingness to see or admit a truth that ought to be apparent and is in fact apparent to many others." In other words, denial is "seeing but not seeing." His interest is in cases where "denial … is avoidable and … leads to failure," such as Henry Ford's presumption that consumers would continue to want black autos in the face of evidence that they were becoming more interested in color; IBM's dogged pursuit of PC hardware while Intel usurped the microprocessor market and Microsoft became dominant in software for PC operating systems; and the belief by entrepreneurs and investors alike that online grocery orders to the long-gone Webvan, the largest single start-up during the Internet bubble, would become a preferred method of grocery shopping.

Why do people practice denial? Because it is often easier, "safer," and more profitable in the short run, and more comfortable than confronting a problem, a poor decision made by a superior, a difficult personnel decision, or a failing strategy. At times, denial can lead to remarkable achievements against all odds, particularly for entrepreneurs nurturing start-ups. It is not to be confused with willful behaviors designed, for example, to shield potentially dispiriting information from others.

Denial is described here in degrees, as on a spectrum between "facing facts" on one end and "denial" on the other. Further, Tedlow maintains that it happens as part of a pattern of behavior (like "deferred maintenance"), not as an isolated event. The lessons he takes from his examples are that: (1) "the time to deal with denial is right now," (2) facts have to be confronted, not avoided, (3) a climate of straight talk where truth can be spoken to power has to be encouraged, (4) leadership behaviors such as listening are essential, (5) behaviors designed to optimize the short-term that may themselves be symptoms of denial, (6) words matter; when words are used to obfuscate, denial may be near, (7) while obvious, it is critical to tell the truth, and (8) it is better to be unconventional and right than it is to be conventional and possibly wrong, as in the old saying among information technology managers that "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM."

This leaves us with questions concerning just how these lessons are put into practice. Remedies obviously involve individual behaviors. For example, what do you do when the real issue of the next meeting you attend is addressed in the hallway after the meeting rather than in the meeting itself? How easy is it to do something about that in your organization? Why? What can you do, if anything, if you believe that the people to whom you report are in a state of denial? What does your response tell you about the nature of the organization? Is denial endemic to management? How can we see things as they truly are? This is critical to achieving this strat plan.

public housing tenants must be made to pay for damages instead of making hud pay for it with larger budgets the next yr. because they maxed out the budget this yr. Appoint overseer to the local housing authority for the maintenance operation. Im sure this position will pay for itself many times over and in many ways. I worked for a housing authority only to find out i wasnt spending enough money to help them get a larger budget next yr. Unheard of ! there should be incentives to save and make tenants responsible. Then empower them with education not by choice but part of the program so they can move past public assistance.

It could look something like this:

Vision: creating self-sufficient learning communities that support people's growth, physically, emotionally, mentally, economically, and spiritually, where everyone has opportunities to develop and express their gifts, strengths, and abilities. (or use what you have, but really think about this, because this is the living, beating heart of your plan)

Then you need to define more specific objectives, within that vision. This could take form something like the following:

COMMUNITY OBJECTIVES:

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

We seek to create a vibrant, healthy community where:

.Children feel supported, grounded, with opportunity and hope in a positive future

.Children have positive growth opportunities, and responsibilities

.Children have positive guidance and secure environments

.Children are honored, esteemed, and respected as human beings, by themselves and others

.Children learn tools to address pain and anger, their range of emotions are respected, and they have ways to express emotions healthily

.Children's physical, emotional, spiritual, and vocational needs are addressed, in addition to their mental needs, and they enjoy balanced health in all areas

.Children are challenged to the extent they should be, learning essential life skills like discipline, trust, respect, and problem solving

.Inter-generational ties are strong, parenting skills are commonly practiced, and role models are in evidence

.Adult issues are addressed without trauma to children

.The responsibility of raising children is joyfully returned to parents, grandparents and community, rather than leaving it by default to formal institutions and the media

.The community welcomes its responsibility for raising children

.Shortcomings are accepted, and people work openly to overcome them, without stigma

.Children grow healthily, and are allowed to be children

.Healthy relationships with elders and others occur

.People recognize the effect of their actions on children, and choose positive activities

.Family and community traditions, such as ritual and bonding processes, and rites of passage are practiced

.Parents are more involved with their children

.People learn from children and youth

.Youth are respected and respectful

.Abuse is consigned to the history books

.Peer mentors work well

PEOPLE

We seek to create a vibrant, healthy community where people:

.are respected and esteemed by others and themselves
.have supportive, healthy, loving relationships
.have opportunity, security, education, autonomy, employment, opportunities for expression, and support
.have opportunities to grow and express themselves in relationships, family, community life and all other spheres of life.
.have community support, encouragement and acceptance for their growth, transformation and self improvement
.know who they are, and have so many positive opportunities
have opportunities to contribute to family and community
.are so involved in positive activities that feed their interests they have no time or energy for negative pursuits or addictions
.are spiritually healthy, free from addiction and a need to abuse, empowered with a healthy sense of self esteem, respected and loved as members of their families and .communities and positive role models for children.
.have their basic needs met, from within the community wherever possible, using outside resources in an integrated way

ELDERS

We seek to create a vibrant, healthy community where:
.Elders express a mental, physical, emotional/social, spiritual, and even vocational wholeness which inspires all members of the community
.Elders live in health, in support, free from dysfunctional patterns, providing guidance to youth, and sharing the journey of healing and growth with the younger generation.

FAMILIES

We seek to create a vibrant, healthy community where:

.Families are secure, save havens, in mental, emotional/social, vocational, physical and spiritual balance
.Families operate at an optimum level, where each member's needs are met, free of addiction and abuse, supportive of the continued growth and development of everyone in the community
.Useful community values, such as kindness, respect, love, honesty, generosity, unity, responsibility, caring, empathy, sharing, discipline, commitment, nurturing and humility are modelled and practiced
.Families have internal and external mutual support, that reinforce positive activities

ECONOMY, EDUCATION, AND GOVERNANCE

We seek to create a healthy, vibrant, community, where:

.Everyone has useful, meaningful work
.government assistance is used to create self-sufficient people and employment
.Cooperative coalitions of leaders with vision, and clearly defined short and long term goals, produce a healthy economic condition in the community
.Leaders are constantly developed.
.Leaders are role models
.Resources to create opportunities for all are constantly gathered and used efficiently
.a healthy, sustainable economy promotes financial self reliance and moral and ethical accountability
.people become contributing citizens, living up to the American ideal

Generally, this Agreement formalizes a mutual interest, "win-win" relationship, among diverse people, organizations, and agencies working together towards common goals. The goal is fostering programs which foster interrelationships among the residents, the housing owner and management, and other community groups. Resident participation in the determination of programs and activities to be undertaken, working jointly with community groups, and residents of adjacent properties and the community as a whole, is strongly encouraged.

Section 8 has become just about useless,it brings crime in a stable neighborhood,I know that your'e not suppose to discrimonate against someone based on age,but theyr'e giving it to more younger people and it's starting to become a problem.I think there should be classes given and more restrictions with the tenants as well as the landlords so order can be restored,don't just hand out a voucher just because someone signed up for it,I believe the housing authority has become lazy,checking on these families,young girls with these men staying in the homes and they have criminal records,maybe there should be a panel in every county to do that,so it won't be such a heavy load on the case workers,ddo popcorn calls..it will stop some of this criminal activity in these nice neighborhoods.

For people to pursue "the promise of a better life" there needs to be available jobs that provide a stable income, which would lead to financial stability within one's home. Moreover, gainful employment leads to the satisfaction of being able to support yourself and your family. HUD should lead the charge for all Agencies, seeking out and using "Made in the USA" construction materials and Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment. By investing in American made goods HUD would be doubling its commitment to ensure choice and opportunity for all people pursuing the promise of a better life, whether living in or out of HUD's affordable housing communities.