International Observatory on Social Housing
Examine the world of social housing from an international perspective.
I had the pleasure of presenting with my two colleagues Dan Rivera from King County Housing Authority and Job Pangilinan from Seattle Housing Authority regarding lean process improvement in public housing. Our goals were to help conference attendees understand the history of lean, what lean actually is, the experiences of the King County Housing Authority... Continue Reading →
This is my first attempt at trying to share some of the session material being presented at our annual conference in Portland. Please tell me if you find it helpful. Presenter: James Casey Byers, Assistant Regional Inspector General for Audit Presenter: Jim Siwek, Assistant Special Agent, HUD OIG The HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG)... Continue Reading →
Although I live in the USA, I am keenly aware of what is taking place in other countries. When I lived in Germany I spent several weeks in the UK looking at the social housing systems, programs and challenges. Of special interest to me were the welfare reforms affecting social housing associations. That included the bedroom tax,... Continue Reading →
If you are starting out with lean, one of the first questions becomes, "When should I start trying projects?" That is not always an easy answer as you do need to at least have a basic understanding. But when should you start using your new skill sets? What should you tackle? If you over-reach and... Continue Reading →
The main point of a Kaizen event is rapid improvement with a specific issue or process your agency is having problems with. You get everyone responsible in a room and work through the process to quickly improve it in a dramatic fashion. A Kaizen event can last a day or 5 days. I suppose longer,... Continue Reading →
Is there an issue at your housing authority? Have you tried solving it but cannot quite figure out what the main cause is? Even worse, do you jump to the conclusion without really thinking about what the main reason is. Here is a tool that might help you make some progress. Sometimes it is called... Continue Reading →
Lean is a process improvement/management methodology that comes from the Toyota production system. Their main drive was to eliminate waste in processes while respecting their employees. The methods worked so well that they have been used in industries as wide ranging from building airplanes to ordering office supplies at a school. Warehouses across the country... Continue Reading →
I am back in the USA and working in the public housing industry. With that comes my return to using six sigma lean methodology to help me with my projects and work. I loved six sigma lean from my first introduction to it because it gave me a way to work through issues/projects. Everything I... Continue Reading →
I visited the city of Mannheim Germany in October to speak with both city officials and social housing staff about affordable housing in this mid-sized German city. I met with Arno Knobel who works for the city of Mannheim. He focuses his attention on strategic issues including urban renewal and long term planning. For instance... Continue Reading →
A year into working with social housing professionals in Germany, I can say there is a lot to be learned. I want to focus on something that Germany does extremely well which is training and developing young talent to take on the future responsibilities of running and operating different aspects of an industry. For our... Continue Reading →
International Observatory on Social Housing 