It is said that two things in life are certain: Death and Taxes. To which I can add a third; the actions of federal government agencies become extremely unpredictable during an election year. Naturally, this makes many people who work in areas impacted by the federal government somewhat uneasy. What’s going to happen? Having been through this type of cycle many, many times over the years I can tell you that we’ll all emerge at the end of this as we have before. Housing is, after all, a necessity. So you can relax a bit. It will be fine. Things will work out.
My problem at this moment is more immediate: What do I write about when not much is happening on the compliance front that is new? I’ve been doing these articles for decades now, and I have nightmares about seeing something similar to what is seen in newspapers: “Mark Alper is on vacation. In his absence, we’re running one of his columns from 1998.”
The answer is simple. I write what I know best: Compliance. But I won’t write about something you’ve read before, like rules on assets, income, allowances, eligibility, etc. I want to write about Compliance (yes, the capitalization is deliberate) itself. Specifically, about making Compliance more accessible.
One of the things I keep hearing, and have alluded to in the past, is comments like: “I work in the real world. You’re talking HUD world.” And my instant reaction to that is: “You’re getting millions of dollars every year from HUD. It doesn’t get more real world than that.” On reflection, however, I’ve taken myself to task for being a bit too flippant with that answer, even as I stand by it in substance.
The reason I think I have been too flippant is because I failed to see the cause of the disconnection that led to the “real world” comment. Compliance is jargon-laden and its language is insular. I feel those of us who work in compliance need to make it more accessible not only for residents, but for our co-workers.
Consider this statement: “I just had the CFO sign an ROB because she wants to see the 59, and I don’t want the PBCA to red flag us to HUD for non-compliance with EIV.” I know exactly what that means. But is anyone in doubt that anyone uninitiated, as it were, in the compliance realm is going to roll their eyes and stop listening? Or you might get a response like, “Just fix it’;” “Just get it done;” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Where does this lead? It can and often does lead to compliance professionals feeling alone, overburdened, burned-out and frustrated. And the impact of that on a housing management organization cannot be minimized. I am not naive enough to believe that making compliance more accessible will be a cure for those who have little or no interest in the complexities of the issues associated with it. But I think it is a move in the right direction. Because when the organization’s HUD funding is significantly dependent on compliance, it is in the best interests of everyone to have a greater understanding of what is involved.