Journal of Property Management

It was ElEctIon Day anD propErty managEr mIchElE hItE’s offIcE at channElwooD VIllagE was fIElDIng call aftEr call from pEoplE askIng whErE to VotE.

In previous years, Channelwood had a polling place on site. Located in Akron, Ohio, the Alpha Phi Alpha Homes development contains a mix of townhouses and garden apartments with some residents receiving government subsidies and others paying market-rate rents. Hite, her assistant and the receptionist spent much of their day referring people to the county Board of Elections to figure out their new polling place.

Hite’s to-do list was long that day. She worked on a review for “one of the many government agencies” keeping tabs on the development, distributed 12 three-day eviction notices, collected rents, checked billing discrep-ancies and performed an internal apartment inspection (a supplement to the five conducted annually by outside agencies).

It was a fairly normal day.

Managing a mixed-income property is not for the faint
of heart. Hite said that if she could give one piece of advice
to a new manager at such a property it would be, “Take a
deep breath and hold on.”
It’s not just that some developments require a company
be certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) in order to run them. It’s that prop-
erty managers at mixed-income communities handle all
the same tasks as their colleagues at standard residential
developments, plus a host of additional responsibilities
that call for exceptional versatility and skill. They must
possess the tact of a diplomat, the understanding of a
social worker and a bureaucrat’s ability to wrestle paper-
work to the ground. It also helps to have lots of energy.

Not everyone is suited for it, said Gayle Epp, a consultant at EJP Consulting Group and an expert on housing issues.

“There are some who love to do this work, and others who wouldn’t touch it,” she said.

Model Mix

The first mixed-income communities opened their doors
in the 1970s. The properties can be structured in many
ways. Units reserved for low-income residents can go
to people with income as high as 80 percent of the area
median income, or to former residents of public housing,
depending on the development. They
can be financed with municipal, state
or federal money, and sometimes the
dollars come as tax credits or low-
interest loans. But despite the variety
of set-ups, most mixed-income devel-
opments share a common purpose—
they are designed to counter the con-
centration of troubled, low-income
households within certain urban
neighborhoods by providing quality
housing for poor and working-class
people alongside homes occupied by
more affluent neighbors.

duty and deMograPhics

The managers charged with tending these mixed-income communities share many duties with managers at market rate residential buildings. Their first responsibility is leasing the property’s units. But the fact that they’re targeting at least two, and sometimes three different economic groups, changes their approach.