When talking about a successful implementation, the questions that immediately come to mind are:
Highlights from ProLink Technology Live 2022
This year, ProLink Solutions held an all-virtual conference, ProLink Technology Live 2022. The conference featured a number of guest speakers from all areas of the affordable
Join Us for ProLink Technology Live 2022!
We are excited to announce ProLink Technology Live 2022! Join us for our annual user conference on November 9 and 10. Registration is now open with additional details available on the registration site. This event is open to all public agencies nationwide. It’s a two-day virtual event with multiple tracks: On November 9 at 11AM Eastern, we will kick off the conference with a special keynote from Jennifer Schwartz, Director of Tax and Housing Advocacy with the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA), who will be providing affordable housing industry updates from Washington! All session and speaker information can be found in the registration site. The event is free. Check out the site and register today! https://www.youtube.com/embed/xHsD2ixQJA8?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&rel=0
Charitable Giving Matters
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2022 and has last been updated on December 16, 2022. In the context of the Great Resignation and a tight labor market, our industry is no exception to the difficulties many markets are seeing today. More studies are showing that Gen Z and Millennials care deeply about company culture and are more likely to quit if they don’t agree with a company’s culture. To shape a positive company culture, one of the things that organizations can do is increase their charitable giving and to become more proactively involved in local nonprofits that support various causes. For ProLink Solutions, as a key technology player in the affordable housing industry, we are at a crossroad between technology professionals and housing professionals. As we are headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, a few miles south of Denver, we have supported various local organizations over the years, such as Saint Francis Center and Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. We have also recently discovered and started supporting STEMblazers, a local nonprofit based out of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, whose mission is to promote girls in the STEM fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. STEMblazers envisions a world where women feel they are equally represented in the STEM workforce, and it provides them with the resources and mentorship they need to pursue a career in STEM. They partner with local middle and high schools and provide mentoring opportunities between students and local professionals. Women are underutilized in the STEM workforce and STEMblazers aims to help remedy this by getting more women involved in a variety of STEM employment opportunities, and in generating interest when it comes to women in STEM. As EVP for ProLink Solutions, I frequently notice the lack of female representation, not only employed with tech firms already, but also qualified and available for hire. I’m proud that over the last two years, the majority of ProLink’s new hires have been female—but it takes a lot of work to find them compared to equivalent male candidates. Getting more females interested and educated in STEM fields is where the foundation must be laid to achieve a more equitable, diverse and female talent pool in the future. On July 28th of this year, we had the honor of partnering with STEMblazers for their 6th Annual STEMblazers Golf Tournament. We are aligned with the vision that STEMblazers has for women in tech and are happy to support them.
Affordable Chicago Video Featured at NCSHA Housing Credit Connect 202
As a Platinum Sponsor at the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA)’s Housing Credit Connect conference in June 2022, ProLink Solutions premiered the “Affordable Chicago” video. The video highlights three affordable housing developments that were built in Chicago during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose behind producing this video was to show how resilient the affordable housing industry has been through even the toughest times. Chicago Housing Trust, a non-profit organization who manages various housing programs in Chicago, particularly the city’s Inclusionary Housing program, assisted the selection of the following developments featured in the video: We invite you to watch our video about these exciting affordable housing developments in Chicago below. If you are interested in learning more about any of the projects, contact ProLink Solutions at marketing@prolinksolutions.com.
Tennessee HAF Program Highlighted in the Treasury’s Article on Promising Practices
In mid-April, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released an article on its website—Promising Practices for HAF Programs. In the article, the Treasury focused on two topics—Helping Homeowners Determine Their Best Options and Strategic Outreach—and listed early promising practices the Treasury has witnessed among several states. Helping Homeowners Determine Their Best Options Under the first topic, the Treasury reiterates the importance of involving housing counseling services in Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) implementations. One of three state programs listed by the Treasury as a promising practice was the state of Tennessee. The state’s program, known as TNHAF, uses the state’s network of HUD-certified counselors for early intervention to review loss mitigation options with homeowners. TNHAF has two objectives in their use of counselors. First, counselors educate homeowners about funding programs and loss mitigation options beyond the HAF program. Second, counselors prepare homeowners for the time when assistance ends. The HAF assistance is temporary in nature and therefore it is important to set homeowners up for success in the long run. In the recent HAF webinar hosted by ProLink Solutions on April 20, Denise Hutchinson, Assistant Director of Mortgage Assistance and Compliance with Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA), gave an example of how they provided a homeowner with a sustainable, long-term solution, combining both HAF assistance and a loss mitigation solution presented by the homeowner’s servicer. In addition, THDA has also deployed a homeowner education video and requires homeowners to watch it as part of their HAF application process. The video educates homeowners on loss mitigation options as well as regular and crisis budgeting. Click here to watch the video on YouTube. Strategic Outreach Under the topic of strategic outreach, the Treasury reiterates the importance of reaching low-income and socially disadvantaged homeowners in HAF implementations. TNHAF was again highlighted as one of three promising state programs. TNHAF program managers can monitor the impact of HAF dollars in real-time, using the executive dashboard built into ProLink+, a HAF deployment technology solution provided by ProLink Solutions. The access to real-time data and analytics enables THDA to assess the impact of the program particularly in high-need areas and to refine their HAF deployment strategy on an ongoing basis. You can learn more about ProLink+ by clicking here.
Software Procurement Best Practices
Whether you like it or not, Request for Proposal (RFP) is likely an integral part of your software procurement process, particularly if you are with a larger organization or government agency. Writing an RFP is a daunting task as you’re trying to incorporate all your organization’s procedural requirements while developing functional requirements across multiple teams that will benefit from the new software. However, before diving right into the RFP itself, you might want to consider a couple of steps to help save time and effort down the road. We’re talking about the Planning Stage and Business Analysis Stage. The end goal of the Planning Stage is for you, as business lead, to get a buy-in from the committee or the executives. Start with writing a plan that outlines what you are trying to achieve with the new software you are seeking; call it a value prop. If a project intake process exists in your organization, you will use the intake form to document your business case. You should describe how the new software would help your organization achieve its business goals. Include business and operational objectives, measurable outcomes, and estimated budget. Don’t forget to identify potential stakeholders, sponsors, and resources you will need to successfully implement the project. Keep it at a high level. Take advantage of sites such as Capterra.com or Softwareadvice.com to get a sense of products on the market and price points. Use your market research to sharpen your case. The committee or executives should review and approve this plan before you move to the next stage, Business Analysis. In this stage, you’re diving deeper into discovery. Gather functional requirements from the impacted business lines and technical requirements from your organization’s IT group. Start working on your organizational readiness and change management strategy. Anticipate that many of your team members will undergo a cycle of emotional responses in reaction to changes in business processes due to the new software. Once you take these steps, you will be in a much better shape to take on the actual RFP itself. Your software procurement journey will move faster, with less challenges. If you would like more information about software procurement best practices, contact ProLink Solutions.
Highlights from ProLink Technology Live 2021
This year, ProLink Solutions held an all-virtual conference, ProLink Technology Live 2021. The conference featured a number of guest speakers from all areas of the affordable housing industry and was split into two separate tracks, one for ProLinkHFA (multi-family) and one for ProLink+ (single-family). If you participated in the event, you can use this link to access the Attendee Hub for up to 90 days after the end of the event. Keynote – Washington Update We started the conference with a special keynote from Jennifer Schwartz, the Director of Tax and Housing Advocacy at the National Council of State and Housing Agencies (NCSHA). Jennifer provided an update on Washington, and also touched up on a variety of topics including: 8823 Compliance Panel Kelly Encinias, the Customer Adoption Manager at ProLink, was joined by several speakers for a panel discussion on 8823 compliance and asked a number of questions, including: During this panel, Josh Brown, the Director of Strategic Initiatives at E&A Team, addressed various challenges that are inherent in compliance and affordable housing programs. “Generally, the nature of program compliance is that it continues to increase in complexity, and it’s constantly evolving. Programs will also compete and conflict with each other, adding to that complexity”. ProLink+ What’s New and HAF Lessons Learned Panel Bri Kreuter, the Executive Vice President at ProLink, was joined by several panelists to discuss the Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) and lessons learned during the implementation of their HAF programs in Tennessee and Arkansas. Ro Arrington of Arkansas Development Finance Authority spoke passionately on the subject: “Let’s talk about people that are losing sleep at night because they are worried about losing their homes. And I’m fool enough to think that what we are doing here makes a big, big difference. And if we don’t have a sense of urgency, think about what one day, one week, and one month means for the people who we’re trying to get the money out.” What to Expect from ProLink in the Coming Year In 2022, ProLink plans to host a brand-new webinar series beginning in January. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date with the latest news from ProLink as well as news about the affordable housing industry.
Insight into the U.S. Treasury Update for Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) Allocation
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a new deadline for a Tribe, Tribally Designated Housing Entity (TDHE), or the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to submit a notice of funds request to be extended to November 15, 2021…
Loss Mitigation, a Hot Topic with the Treasury
Most states have submitted their Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) plans to the U.S. Treasury in August. As of the publication of this blog, various states are engaged…
