Draft Impact Journey. In development, last updated 12/09/21
Fully expanded "bird's eye" view of Impact Journey
Draft Impact Journey. In development, last updated 10/27/21
The "ideal" path is illustrated in green. The blue boxes show where the reality often becomes more complicated than the green path would suggest. The following pages elaborate on these areas.
Tenant misses rent or utility payments
Not currently a limiting factor, but stakeholders expressed concern that funds will eventually run out
Impact Journey is based on data collected in Pierce and King Counties in Washington State from October to November 2021.
Currently (10/21) there is no automated approach or rapid process to move application from sumbission to approval without manual review.
This is a draft version still in development. Current events and policy changes will lead to updates to this map, as will continued research by the NewImpact project team.
This impact journey is drafted from the perspective of a tenant (which includes both families and individual tenants) seeking support from federally-funded rental assistance in 2021. It is intended to highlight bottlenecks a tenant experiences as a way to highlight opportunities for innovation to improve the experience for the tenant. This would also improve the experience for other stakeholders, including landlords/property managers, fund administrators, and community organization case managers.
Impact Journey: Tenant Seeking Rental Assistance
Thick arrow...
... indicates most common pathway
Step in process
Description of phase
Hourglass indicates parts of the journey that cause major delays in the process
Policy influences/notes
Common scenarios leading to non-payment of rent
Tenant vacates before accessing/knowing to access rental assistance
Tenant owes more months of utility payments than rent payments.
Until 8/21 moving would render tenant ineligible for assistance
Rental assistance is also available to tenants who owe ONLY utilities. How to include that?
Tenant has stable income and is not rent burdened
Tenant has stable income but is rent burdened
Tenant experiences reduction in income due to Covid
In this case, would not be eligible for RA unless meets other eligibility criteria, including household job loss due to Covid and income eligibility
Tenant has stable income but hears of eviction moratorium and decides to stop paying rent
Tenant experiences major job or income loss due to Covid
Tenant must decide how to limit expenses or increase income
Tenant finds new/additional source of income
Tenant moves to new housing closer to new job
Tenant can pay rent and utilities in current housing
Tenant moves in with friends or family
Tenant pays rent, but not utilities
Eventually income is too limited
Tenant receives RA support but has ongoing inability to pay rent
Tenant outcomes once application is approved
Tenant starts but does not finish application
Application Accessibility
Tenant unaware of assistance options, does not apply and receives no support
Unclear which application portal to use
Landlord cannot evict for non-payment if eviction moratorium in place
Landlord is left with unpaid back-rent, and under current (10/21) guidance is not able to access rental assistance funds.
Currently (10/21) no way for multi-unit landlords to submit a batch of applications. must be individual
Elaborate: What happens to application if tenant moves out? Previously made ineligible, but currently would still be eligible.
May be eligible for additional rental assistance IF guidance changes from Treasury
Payments can be for up to 18 months of assistance, but previously only 12 were allowed. People may be eligible for additional assistance beyond what was initially approved.
Guidance has changed to allow 18 months total payments. Tenants previously approved for 12 mos may now be eligible for further assistance.
Community org requests 200 application batch
Per Treasury guidance (10/21) still priority to have landlord cooperation and direct to landlord payment, so there will be efforts to engage a landlord to attempt to complete the landlord information and enable direct-to-landlord payment
"Complete Application" means all required information from tenant and landlord are in the system for review.
"Submitting" an application does not mean the application is complete, but it pushes the application into the portal system where administrators can then follow up on the incomplete application.
Can landlord submit all application materials at this point or do they have to wait until tenant has finished application?
What legal help available? Do people access it?
DCHS has legal assistance available for help with ERAP and evictions.
Community org. helps tenant apply for rental assistance even if moved out of unit
Uncooperative landlord
Leaves without notice to landlord. Debt on record, bad record for future rental
Does not know that still eligible for paying backrent
'Would be nice' Resources/Orgs:
-If receiving government assistance, a notification of resources available to them when making a change of address notification
Would it be beneficial to have Providers, the organization, give notification or alerts to individuals regarding the eligibility for backrent? they could have a survey come up when notified of an address change regarding eligibilty.
Resources/Org:
-Participant databases / United Way of King County, CBOs
-Support for Service Providers / Housing Connector
Doesn't seek assistance
Negatively impacts future housing opportunities (hard to get a landlord to agree to rent)
Resources/Org:
-can help w/ negative rental history/ Mary's Place
Landlord knows where to apply
Tenant takes no action; landlord cannot access rental assistance
Can access application
Portal admin refers case to case manager
Case manager reaches out
Tenant does not respond
Case manager reaches out with different mode of communication
Case manager reaches out with notification of case closure
Tenant engages with case manager and submits docs
Does not complete application
Doesn't know how to upload documents
Does not reach out for help/ is not in touch with community org for help
Worried about submitting private docs (i.e. tax info, SSC)
Decides to submit application without required documentation
'Would Be Nice' Resources/org:
-A number to call for documentation retrieval assistance/DCHS
-Secure public repository of documents with permissions/API Access
Providing a number for the individual to call and reach out to at the onset of the application to begin the documentation retrieval process. This would help avoid the response/non-response problems with case workers and allows the tenant to reach someone directly and have number they are familiar with.
Same idea but with technology, for example, when students fill out a FAFSA, they can submit their taxpayer ID, and Dept of Ed can pull their recent tax filings from IRS/Treasury.
Resources/Orgs:
-identity verification software/ TransUnion, Haven Connect, Landlord Solutions, Providers
-rental history verification/ Mary's Place, TransUnion, Landlord Solutions Inc
Does not have necessary documentation
Tenant information complete
Landlord does not provide documents
Possible Resources/ orgs:
-Legal assistance/ DCHS via Housing
Justice Project and KC Bar Association
I don't know if there is anything that can be done through the legal channels about a non-response from landlords
Resources/Orgs:
-Business license registrations / local governments
-Document management, Rent watch / Landlord Solutions(more of a long-term fix)
Community org reaches out to landlord
Landlord docs do not meet application format requirements
Payment sent to tenant
Payment processed and sent by community org
Resources/Org:
-Funding management/GrantCare
-community orgs/ KWA, NLIHC, The Reach center, United Way of King County, Mary's Place
Application Processing
case manager reaches out
Landlord unresponsive for more than 7 days
Application can proceed with payment as direct to tenant
Application put in queue in county system, in priority based on date submitted - can be very long (multiple months) delay
'Would be nice' Resources/Orgs:
-Waitlist management with income/need prioritization
Possible Resources/Org:
-Waitlist Management/ Haven Connect
-Applicant Tracking System/Landlord Solutions Inc.
The applicant tracking system is used for potential renters rental applications. I am wondering if we could use the same software to provide a tracking system for the tenants who have applied for assistance. It would open up communication from both sides.
Resources/Orgs:
-cross-checking for eligibility/ Providers, Mary's Place, The Reach Center
-Application review services/Wizehive
-
Delay is too long; tenant moves out
May not know that still eligible for payment of backrent
Is there a way for community organizations that were assisting with applications to reach out after a move to go over resources?
Tenant can't see where their application is in line, or the status of the application
New guidance: If think going to miss payment then eligible
Tenant is eligible
Community org works with tenant to determine optimal payment structure (months of rent, utilities, combo of both)
Community orgs follow up on incomplete applications submitted through portal
How does landlord starting application get sent to tenant?
Tenant unsure of application/doesn't know how to apply
Finds out that is still eligible for backrent
Awareness of rental assistance programs
Landlord initiates application
Receives notice from landlord
Tenant decides whether/how to proceed with application
Knows of covid relief funds at federal level
Reaches out to community org
Asks landlord
Searches online
Wants support
Payment covers full amount due, rent and utilities
Tenant needs to pay current and future rent
Tenant still has job loss due to covid and cannot make future rent payments
Resources/Orgs:
-small financial help/ Canary, GiveDirectly, UpTogether
-Income Tracking Software / Steady, Providers
-Affordable Housing/Lasa, Koz Development, HUD
Tenant has to decide how to proceed with insufficient income and rental payments due
Cannot be evicted for non-payment if there is eviction moratorium in place
Job situation has changed and tenant now has income to support rental payments
Inadequate funds
Application approved
Payment to landlord sent
Tenant stays in housing, no rent increase for 6mo
Community org holds funds as grantee of county/administrative unit
Utilities shut off
Utility payments
Other priority bills
Start here
Receives support in starting application
Community org spends time converting docs to acceptable forms
'Would Be Nice' Resources/Orgs:
-Documentation reformatting/OCR and machine learning
Landlord still unwilling to provide documents
Possible Resources/orgs:
-Legal assistance/ DCHS
Landlord has 7 days to respond if notice sent by mail, 5 days if sent by email/text/phone
Tenant does not apply
Tenant works with community org to submit w/o landlord
Resources/Orgs:
-search for documents/Mary's Place
-copies of documentation/ Landlord Solutions Inc.
Community org reviews application
Is not aware of available programs
Receives no support
Does not know rights
Resources/ Orgs:
-legal assistance/ DCHS, Mi Centro
-member database / WLIHC
-affordable housing advocacy/ Mary's Place, 211, NLIHC
Is intimidated (illegally) by landlord and moves out
Homeless and with debt on record
Resources/Orgs:
-helps with barriers to renting/ Mary's Place
-access to housing/ Mary's Place, Associated Ministries of Tacoma-Pierce County, Lasa, King County Housing Authority
Stays in home, debt accruing
Eviction moratorium ends, is evicted with high debt
Community org revisits past rejected applications for newly eligible
Tenant does not receive the financial help they need
Eligibility changes and tenant is now eligible
Resources/Org:
-eligibility verification/Providers, Mary's Place, KWA, DCHS
Tenant is not eligible
Tenant is rejected
Payment does not cover full rent/utilities owed but landlord cannot evict for 6 months as condition of accepting rental assistance
Tenant still has debt on record
Resources/Orgs:
-help w/ rental history/Mary's Place
Landlord provides supporting docs
Landlord documents not in acceptable format
Complete application submitted
Receives notice of change in distribution structure. Must reapply with different org.
Not yet familiar with social safety net services
Tenant starts application
Needs to submit documents supporting eligibility criteria
Attributes
Possible resources/ Orgs:
-Income verification software
Resources / Orgs:
-Online Document Collection / Haven Connect, Landlord Solutions Inc
-rental history/ Mary's Place
Faces a challenge with uploading documents to application
Has all necessary documentation, is comfortable submitting private documents, and knows how to upload documents
Finds info on rental assistance
Application not accessible format (online/language)
Resources/Orgs:
-translation services/ Mi Centro, KWA, DCHS
-application assistance/ KWA, King County Housing Authority, Associated Ministries of Tacoma-Pierce County, CBOs
-Case workers/ DCHS, Mary's Place, The Reach Center, Mi Centro
Does not apply/ complete application
Reaches out to familiar community org
Calls 211
Information unclear
'Would Be Nice' Resources/Orgs:
-a directory of rental assistance programs w/ detailed explanations of source and extent/Community Organizations, DCHS
Resources/Org:
-application assistance/KWA, King County Housing Authority, Associated Ministries of Tacoma-Pierce County
-Case workers/ DCHS, Mary's Place, Mi Centro, The Reach Center
Applies to wrong rental assistance program
Told to apply elsewhere
Does not apply
Connects to other negative outcomes
Does not know where to look for support
Attribute
'Would be Nice' Resources / Orgs:
- If receiving any benefits, on receipt, include a list of secondary resources and orgs
- If paying rent through mail or online(e.g. BILT Rewards by Mastercard, Zillow Rentals, etc) on receipt from landlord/payment processor, include a list of secondary resources and orgs
Resource / Orgs:
-Research, Professional Development / NAA, WMFHA
-Mailing list / United Way, KWA
-Help/Call service for housing/rental assistance/ 211 (WA)
-Resources available/ Aunt Bertha
Most community organizations will know where to refer people for resources. Most have advisors that will refer to DCHS that has the appropriate application portal.
Landlord reaches out
Community org reaches out
Knows where to look for support
notes
attributes
forks
Bottlenecks
Negative outcomes
Positive Outcomes
Legend
Already connected with community org
Delay between application submission and approval/payment increases stress and uncertainty for tenant and landlord.
Finds correct RA portal
Needs to access application
Tenant remains housed and free of backrent
[Resource mapping] Tenant misses rent or utility payments
Tenant stays in housing or leaves
Stays in housing
![[Resource mapping] Rental Assistance Impact Journey](/image/cfd3df89dedfbb7cf5d8e7d182399863/resource-mapping-rental-assistance-impact-journey.png "[Resource mapping] Rental Assistance Impact Journey")
