International Observatory on Social Housing
Examine the world of social housing from an international perspective.
Access to affordable housing is a challenge in this 38 million EU member state. While that can be said in probably every EU country, the culture of families taking care of each other might hide some of the underlining issues. Many poles stack up with relatives and deal with being under-housed. The government in Poland... Continue Reading →
Today I welcome my friend and co-worker Job Pangilinan to my blog to help co-author. You can visit his LinkedIn page here- https://www.linkedin.com/in/attyjobpangilinan In an environment where everyone is expected to do more with less, implementing process improvement programs and initiatives is not easy within the affordable housing arena. Sometimes it is the perception that... Continue Reading →
I speak with a lot of housing authority staff from around the country and one of the first thing people ask me about lean is, "How do I get started?" I often respond by giving resources like books, Youtube links, websites and even local resources if I have time. Starting a process improvement initiative or... Continue Reading →
I started this blog in 2014 to monitor my research and fellowship time in Germany and EU. I wrote dozens of blogs about what was happening in the realm of public housing and homelessness across multiple EU countries. Since returning to the US, my blog has focused a lot on process improvement. Today I want... Continue Reading →
Over the last couple weeks, my lean work has ranged in several areas ranging from visual management boards to problem solving. The key concept that keeps coming up revolve around bigger picture strategy and where the agency is headed. My lean coach often refers to, "True North". What is True North at your agency and how... Continue Reading →
It's been a while since I posted here but my lean activity at work has been off the charts. We are going through a lean transformation and one of the first things we started working with is visual management. What is visual management? In reality it is something that helps guide you through your day... 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 →
International Observatory on Social Housing 