Ohio Housing Finance Agency 2020 Fall Newsletter

OHFA UPDATE - PAGE 4 - FALL OFFICE OF MULTIFAMILY HOUSING The Compliance division is excited to close out 2020 and begin a new year. Despite the challenges, our team has continued to make improvements and streamline processes, so we can serve our partners better. We aim to continue these updates. One of this year’s enhancements was a successful transition to conducting file audits remotely. While filing remotely had been a conversation, the staff had no immediate plans to carry out this Herculean effort. Our staff’s diligence in creating the process and then executing the plan meant that what was once an idea became reality. OHFA’s auditors conducted over 450 audits this year, the overwhelming majority of which were remote, file-only audits, including over 7,200 individual tenant files. We appreciate our partners’ patience and flexibility to help complete the remote audits. As we prepare for the 2021 audit period, we will be adding additional auditors to our team to help manage the ever-increasing volume of required physical inspections and file audits. Another major change of 2020 was improvements to the OHFA Inspection software system, enabling partners to easily upload owner responses and track correspondence. The Compliance Audit Report also was streamlined, giving partners the capability to save the report as a PDF, which allows for printing and saving on their computer network or hard drive. Speaking of the OHFA Inspection system, our team was recognized by the National Council of State Housing Agencies with an award in Management Innovation: Technology, for our OHFA Inspection Software submission at the organization’s annual conference. Tonya Rankin was even featured in a video interview with OHFA’s CIO, Steve McVey, to discuss the software. For those with upcoming audits, please ensure that all applicable personnel have access to the OHFA Inspection and DevCo Online systems prior to the audit. To access the OHFA Inspection system, you must be registered as a Devco Online user and have access to all applicable projects in DevCo. The owner may also grant access to designees of their choice through DevCo Online. Don’t forget about the newly-added OHFA Inspection option in the DevCo Help Desk . Please submit all DevCo, Compliance and OHFA Inspection questions to the Help Desk so we can better track and address the needs and concerns of our partners. We continue to add and train OHFA staff so we can respond to your questions as quickly as possible. If you have not already done so, remember to update your Constant Contact options to include OHFA’s Compliance Division. This will ensure that you are up to date as our office makes important system changes or announcements. We are grateful to OHFA staff and partners for their work to further OHFA’s mission. We look forward to another great year of advancing affordable housing on behalf of all Ohioans. COMPLIANCE DIVISION UPDATE ATHENA LUNSFORD COMPLIANCE OPERATIONS MANAGER