Strategic Plan 2004 -2010

Introduction:

Board members and staff of Montgomery Housing Partnership (MHP) developed this Strategic Plan with assistance from the firm of Management Performance Concepts during the winter and spring of 2004. The MHP Board of Directors formally approved it in July 2004.

This Strategic Plan provides MHP with a 5-year roadmap for increasing the number of quality affordable homes throughout Montgomery County, Maryland, for lower income families in vital neighborhoods and communities. The Board of Directors and staff will review MHP's progress in meeting the goals and objectives of this Strategic Plan, and the Board annually will review and update the plan as appropriate.

The plan was developed with broad involvement and guidance from MHP's Board of Directors and staff, following consultation with residents, partners and stakeholders. The Board's Strategic Planning Committee and MHP's President and senior managers helped coordinate the planning process and provided important support and analysis. Board members participated in three extended planning work sessions, two of which included staff. Staff also had an extended planning work session and assisted throughout.

This Strategic Plan is the result of these deliberations.

Executive Summary:

The mission of Montgomery Housing Partnership is to preserve and expand quality affordable housing in Montgomery County.

To accomplish its mission, Montgomery Housing Partnership, directly or through its subsidiaries:

Acquires, rehabilitates, builds and manages quality affordable housing
Enhances the vitality of the neighborhoods in which affordable housing is located
Develops and implements community life programs in those neighborhoods.

Montgomery Housing Partnership was founded in 1989. Today, MHP (directly or through its subsidiaries) owns close to 1,000 quality, affordable, apartment and town homes throughout Montgomery County. MHP is the County's largest non-profit developer and owner of affordable homes. A volunteer board of directors that oversees its professional staff governs MHP.

MHP's Strategic Plan responds directly to the environment for affordable housing in Montgomery County. Extensive staff work, including interviews with residents, partners and stakeholders, have confirmed the following about the environment in our County in which we work:

For the foreseeable future there will be significant increasing needs for a wide range of quality affordable housing in Montgomery County and for consistent leadership to address these needs.
Because Montgomery County currently is focusing more attention and resources on responding to the housing needs of low and moderate income families, this is the time period in which to develop and implement innovative responses.
MHP's customers are very satisfied with its programs and services and believe that more of them would further improve the quality of life in the County. At the same time, there is room for improvement in property management to maintain and improve the quality of MHP's affordable homes and its customer service.

Over the next 5 years, guided by its Strategic Plan and assuming that the current generally favorable environment for expanding affordable housing opportunities persists, MHP aims to accomplish the following key goals and objectives:

Assuring the continued sustainability and growth of MHP.
Developing at least one new quality affordable apartment home community.
Increasing by at least 500 the number of quality affordable homes owned by MHP or its subsidiaries.
Developing long-range plans to acquire and rehabilitate, or build, an additional 1,000 quality affordable homes.
Assuring vital "neighborhoods of choice" for the quality affordable homes of MHP through comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategies, particularly in the County areas of Wheaton, Long Branch/Takoma Park and (if feasible) Gaithersburg, that build and sustain economically and socially diverse communities.
Providing a broad array of quality community life programs to and for MHP housing residents (and their neighbors and neighborhoods) to assist residents in moving toward market-rate apartment homes and home ownership.
Providing excellent customer service.
Assisting other owners to improve their management skills and preserve and improve their affordable apartment homes.
Creating opportunities for resident leadership at MHP properties and as MHP board Members.
Expanding MHP working and operating capital resources, by increasing individual contributions 20% annually and corporate and foundation contributions and grants 15% annually.
Establishing and staffing a "Friends of MHP" volunteer/donor advisory group of at least 100.
Recruiting and developing diverse, experienced and inspired future Board Members and leaders.
Recruiting and retaining diverse, experienced, dedicated and competitively compensated professional staff.
Increasing and establishing MHP's public visibility and leadership position on affordable housing issues in Montgomery County and the Metropolitan Washington DC region.
Continuing to be, and to be widely recognized as, the premier non-profit affordable housing developer and owner in the region.
Details of the Montgomery Housing Partnership's Strategic Plan for 2004-2010, follow.

Mission:

The mission of Montgomery Housing Partnership is to preserve and expand quality affordable housing in Montgomery County.

We accomplish this mission by acquiring, rehabilitating, building and managing quality affordable housing; enhancing the vitality of the neighborhoods in which affordable housing is located; and developing and implementing community life programs in those neighborhoods.

Core Values:

Core values are the fundamental ideals of the Montgomery Housing Partnership. They include:

Conducting business with honesty and integrity
Pursuing excellence and leadership in all endeavors.
Using best practices in accountability and stewardship of resources.
Acting as an exemplary partner, neighbor and landlord in the communities in which we work.
Working cooperatively with community stakeholders, board members, staff and volunteers to achieve MHP's mission.
Respecting, embracing and nurturing diversity.

Guiding Principles:

Montogomery Housing Partnership applies these guiding principles to achieve its mission.

Protecting the affordability of housing.
Seeking opportunities to expand and preserve affordable housing.
Providing affordable housing that meets or exceeds the quality standards of market rate housing.
Understanding the relationship between affordable housing and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Supporting related services to residents and owners that build and sustain economically and socially diverse communities.
Seeking responses from residents, neighbors, partners, neighbors and other stakeholders to help assure delivery of high quality services.
Focusing within the boundaries of Montgomery County.
Maintaining a diverse community-based organization widely representative of the communities in which we work.

Who We Serve:

MHP primarily serves lower to moderate-income individuals and families, who earn between 40% and 60% of the area median. Believing that vital communities are economically mixed, MHP also serves individuals and families with higher and lower incomes.

Strategic Direction:

The strategic direction of an organization is its response to the opportunities and threats in the organization's external environment, as well as its internal strengths, values and guiding principles. Establishing a strategic direction provides the framework for an organization to make consistent decisions on how to allocate resources to achieve desired results and to establish measurable goals and objectives.

MHP will pursue the following strategic direction during the period 2004-2010:

Increasing the Number of Quality Affordable Homes in Vital Neighborhoods. MHP will increase the inventory of quality affordable housing in Montgomery County by:

Seeking additional opportunities to acquire, rehabilitate and develop affordable quality homes throughout Montgomery County.
Designing and implementing comprehensive neighborhood development strategies that preserve and expand affordable housing in selected neighborhoods where MHP or its subsidiaries own or will own affordable homes. These comprehensive strategies integrate real estate development, community life, neighborhood assessment, planning, and neighborhood revitalization services, as appropriate. MHP will continue to focus on neighborhoods in Wheaton and Long Branch and will explore opportunities in Gaithersburg.
Designing and delivering Community Life Programs that support its residents and, where feasible and appropriate, their neighbors in neighborhoods where MHP or its subsidiaries own affordable homes.

Strengthening and Expanding its Excellent Customer Service. MHP will continue to improve its property management and services to its residents and other stakeholders.

Building MHP's Financial Strength. MHP will increase its financial strength by developing new and additional capital and operating resources to assure its sustainability.

Strengthening Organization Capacity. MHP will strengthen its infrastructure and organizational capacity, including expanding and developing its staff and Board leadership capabilities.

Increasing MHP Visibility. MHP will increase the visibility of its role in closing the gap in affordable housing and strengthening the vitality of the neighborhoods where it is works, by:

Involving new partners in its affordable housing initiatives
Cultivating future, diverse, experienced, inspired volunteer leaders for its board of directors.
Developing new supporters.
Actively engaging in the public dialogue about and increasing the aware of affordable housing challenges and successes
Ensuring MHP's sustainability.

Continuing Excellence. MHP will continue to be the premiere non-profit quality affordable home developer and owner in Montgomery County and in the Metropolitan Washington, DC region.

Approach
MHP's approach to preserving and expanding quality affordable housing includes the following:

Affordable Housing: Property development and management to expand and sustain a diverse portfolio of quality affordable housing. Goals include:
- Acquisition of quality affordable homes for MHP's portfolio
- Acquisition and rehabilitation, for resale (generally with long-term price controls), of quality affordable homes
- Acquisition of land or non-residential properties for development as affordable homes
- Creative financing (generally with related assurances of continuing affordability), including
  - Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
  - Tax Exempt Bonds
  - State, County and private grants and loans
  - Deed restrictions and protective covenants Community land trusts
  - Loan and/or grant programs for affordable housing owners
- Construction and renovation, including
  - Rehabilitation of properties acquired
  - New construction on acquired land
- Asset management and property management, including
  - providing professional property management through third party management or self-management
  - assuring financially healthy properties through appropriate revenue collections, stabilized expenses, and refinanced debt as appropriate
  - conducting physical needs assessments and scheduling appropriate capital improvements.

MHP supports its affordable housing development and management activities in a wide variety of ways, depending upon the nature of the housing, the overall vitality of its neighborhood, and the demonstrated needs of its residents and other stakeholders. They include:

Community Life Programs: Supportive services for residents of MHP apartment homes. Goals of these supportive services include helping lower income adults and their children develop important skills and resources so that they may move toward market-rate apartment homes and home ownership. They aim to foster:
- Success in school
- Improved employment opportunities
- Increased financial independence and homeownership education.
MHP may provide community life services directly or through partnerships with other community-based organizations in Montgomery County, depending upon the availability of resources and staff capacity.

Neighborhood Programs: Including neighborhood planning and assessment, and neighborhood revitalization. Goals of neighborhood programs include helping assure that affordable housing is a part of vital neighborhoods in which people of all socio-economic levels invest their time, energy and resources.
- Neighborhood planning and assessment is performed in conjunction with MHP or its subsidiaries acquiring and managing properties or may be performed to determine if there is a potential for future affordable housing development in the area. Through the analysis of census data, neighborhood indicators, interviews with neighborhood stakeholders and personal observations, MHP considers the following in its assessment:
  - Physical condition of neighborhood homes, businesses, and public infrastructure
  - Neighborhood leadership and organization
  - Availability of services to the neighborhood (schools, libraries, recreation facilities, transportation, crime prevention and intervention)
  - Perceptions affecting marketability
  - Neighborhood investment and re-investment
  - Unique neighborhood issues.
- In its neighborhood revitalization activities, MHP works comprehensively with its partners to enhance the vitality of selected neighborhoods in which MHP or its subsidiaries own or may own affordable homes.
  
  Strategies for neighborhood revitalization may include:
  - Affordable housing renovation and development
  - Neighborhood planning/research
  - Community organizing
  - Neighborhood association development
  - Community building
  - Technical assistance and training
  - Marketing
  - Encouraging public and private investment.

Goals and Objectives
MHP will pursue its mission over the next five years by seeking to accomplish the following goals and objectives, recognizing that achievement of certain of these goals and objectives is dependent in part upon the current generally favorable environment for expanded affordable housing.

GOAL I
Preserve and Expand the Number of Quality Affordable Homes in Montgomery County.

Objectives:

A. Implement A County-Wide Affordable Home Development Program

Explore non-traditional buildings for re-development as affordable housing
Develop at least one new quality affordable apartment home community
Increase by at least 500 the number of quality affordable homes owned by MHP or its subsidiaries
Develop long-range plans to acquire and rehabilitate or build an additional 1,000 quality affordable homes
Explore the feasibility of alternative ownership forms, such as condominiums or cooperatives (generally with long-term price controls) to maintain affordability.

B. Assist Other Owners to Improve Their Management Skills and Preserve and Expand Their Affordable Housing

Continue and expand training and technical assistance to small affordable apartment homeowners to enhance their leadership capacity, strengthen their effectiveness as property managers and increase their civic awareness
Increase the number and experience of owner occupants of small affordable apartment buildings
Increase investments made by small affordable apartment owners in their facilities.

C. Develop and Maintain Affordable Homes That Meet or Exceed Market-Rate Standards

Develop quality standards for rehabilitation
Define standards that are comparable to or exceed those of market-rate housing
Develop plans and timetables to bring all properties to these standards
Maintain all properties at these standards.
Develop Neighborhoods of Choice
Develop and implement comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategies in three areas of concentration: Wheaton, Long Branch/Takoma Park, and if feasible, Gaithersburg
Assess the vitality of all of the communities in which MHP owns affordable homes and identify and address resident, neighborhood, community and stakeholder needs and aspirations (as feasible).

GOAL II
Provide Excellent Services to all MHP Residents and Partners.

Objectives:

A. Develop and Implement Programs and Services for Residents

Explore creating a program to assist homeowners (similar to the small apartment owners assistance program)
Develop with the County a pilot program that begins to address the affordable housing needs of very low income households (as evidenced by the growing Section 8 waiting list) in Montgomery County
Graduate 30 new IDA participants
Assess and refine community life programs
Partner with others to provide services and programs to MHP residents.

B. Provide Quality Services to MHP Residents and Neighborhoods

Extend community life programs in targeted neighborhoods to MHP residents and neighbors and neighborhoods, as feasible and appropriate
Customize community life programs in response to residents' needs, such as ESOL, Spanish classes, computer classes, employment resources, after-school programs and pre-school, physical fitness equipment and classes, and banking services, neighborhood leisure activities (movie nights, holiday parties), and health and living programs
Meet with and reach out to residents and resident leaders to better understand and respond to resident needs and goals
Create opportunities for resident leadership at MHP properties and as MHP Board Members.

C. Provide Quality Management of MHP Homes

Complete exploration of feasibility and desirability of self-management of MHP homes
Improve performance and accountability of contract property management companies and stabilize year-to-year expenses
Maintain positive cash flow for all properties.

Goal III
Increase MHP Financial Strength

Objectives:

A. Financial Resource Development Through An Enhanced Fundraising Campaign

Develop and implement the staff and financial accounting system resources to support an enhanced fundraising campaign and other resource development initiatives
Develop a major gift campaign and major donor recognition program
Develop and expand working and operating capital funds by increasing individual contributions by at least 20% annually and corporate and foundation contributions by at least 15% annually.

B. Volunteer Resource Development.

Establish and staff a "Friends of MHP" volunteer/donor advisory group of at least 100
Integrate volunteers into MHP programs, as appropriate.

Goal IV
Enhance MHP Organizational Capacity

Objectives:

A. Board Member and Staff Development

Develop and provide training opportunities for current and future Board Members and leaders
Identify the skills, experience and backgrounds of potential Board Members most helpful to the achievement of the mission, and recruit inspired Board members that have them and that are representative of the communities in which MHP works
Align Board committees to more effectively support the mission, staff and implementation of the Strategic Plan
Assure effective integration of programs and services, both internally within MHP and externally with residents, partners, other stakeholders and volunteers
Develop staff leadership, succession plans, training and opportunities for professional growth within MHP
Recruit and retain diverse, experienced, skilled, dedicated and competitively compensated professional staff.

B. Performance Improvement

Develop an evaluation process for current activities and customer service
Develop a mechanism for resident, partner and other stakeholder viewpoints to be considered in the course of affordable home development, community life, and management activities.

C.Infrastructure

Improve MHP's office facilities and explore the feasibility and desirability of developing and owning a commercial property to house MHP's offices
Develop comprehensive procedures manuals
Effectively deploy technology to support internal and external MHP program activities and administrative functions.

Goal V
Improve Visibility and Enhance Leadership Role

Objectives:

A. Public Awareness

Expand the public visibility and awareness of the MHP quality affordable housing "brand"
Improve the content and expand the functionality of MHP's website
Maintain regular distribution of MHP's Annual Report, newsletters, and other communication tools
Establish a leadership position on affordable housing issues in Montgomery County and the Metropolitan Washington, DC region.

B. Continuing Excellence. Continue to be, and be widely recognized as, the premier non-profit housing developer and owner in the region.