Manual Eligibility Verification: A Silent Budget Killer Draining Your PHA

Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) are constantly juggling limited budgets, complex regulations, and the ever-growing demand for affordable housing. While you strive to maximize every dollar, are you overlooking a hidden cost that's quietly eroding your agency's efficiency, effective decision-making, and ultimately, its ability to serve your community?

We're talking about your eligibility verification process.

It might seem like a routine task, but the truth is that manual verification is a silent budget killer. It's a black hole that consumes valuable staff time, creates costly delays, and opens the door to processing mishaps that can have far-reaching consequences.

What if we told you there's a better way? A way to streamline your operations, improve effective decision making, and free up resources to focus on what truly matters: serving your residents and building stronger communities.

Keep reading to learn about the cost of manual verifications and discover how data-driven solutions can transform your PHA's efficiency and effectiveness.

Unmasking the Hidden Costs of Manual Verification

While manual verifications might seem like the "cost-effective" option, it's actually a silent budget killer. Here's how:

• Impact to Staff Time: How many hours do your staff spend each week calling employers, chasing down paystubs, and manually inputting data? This is time they could be using for more strategic tasks that directly impact your community.
• Delays and Frustration: Manual processes inevitably lead to delays, both for your staff and the applicants you serve. These delays can result in missed deadlines, frustrated applicants, and regulatory compliance issues.
• Errors and Old Information: Humans make mistakes. Even the most diligent staff can accidentally transpose numbers or misinterpret documents, leading to mistaken determinations and costly denials, overpayments, or underpayments to eligible beneficiaries.
• Misallocated Resources: The resources spent on manual verification are resources that aren't being invested in other critical areas, like property maintenance, resident services, or community development.

These hidden costs add up quickly, creating a significant burden on your PHA's budget and hindering your ability to fulfill your mission effectively.

The High Price of Old Information

Right-sized payments to eligible individuals helps prevent not only a waste of resources but also serious consequences to your PHA and the individuals you serve.

• Financial Loss: Improper payments to ineligible individuals or overpayments of housing assistance due to outdated data can add up to substantial financial losses for your agency.
• Legal Risk: Failing to comply with HUD regulations related to verifications can expose your PHA to compliance issues and potential fines.
• Damage to Reputation: Lack of transparency or mistaken eligibility decisions can erode public trust and damage your PHA's reputation.

Data-Driven Verifications: Your Solution for Cost Savings and Efficiency

The good news is that there's a better way. Income and employment verification tools using current data as of the last time contributing employers and payroll providers process payroll, like The Work Number® from Equifax, can revolutionize your eligibility determination process, helping promote significant cost savings and operational efficiencies.

Here's how:

• Instant Access to Data: Get instant income and employment data returned ‘as is’ from contributing employers and payroll providers, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual processes.
• Reduced Administrative Burden: Automate verification tasks, freeing up your staff to focus on more complex cases or higher-value activities.
• Promote Compliance: Make eligibility decisions using current data - as of the last time payroll was provided by a contributing employer or payroll provider -  helping reduce the risk of manual processing mistakes  and enabling easier compliance with HUD regulations.
• Enhanced Applicant Experience: Provide a faster, more seamless application process for your applicants, improving their overall experience.

Invest in Your PHA's Future

By investing in current verification tools, you're not just saving money—you're investing in the future of your PHA. You're enabling your staff to work smarter, not harder. You're promoting efficient and effective decisions that benefit both your agency and the community you serve. And you're freeing up resources to invest in other critical areas that can truly make a difference.

Take the First Step

Don't let hidden costs hold your PHA back. Explore the power of current verification and discover how it can help transform your operations. Learn more about The Work Number solutions that can help PHAs.