As you know, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is constantly keeping us on our toes and for good reason. The HOTMA voucher final rule introduces changes as part of a collective effort to enhance housing stability and address rising rents. For Public Housing Agencies (PHAs), keeping up with HUD changes is key to staying compliant and providing the best possible support to families.  Gabrielle Van Horn, senior director at Yardi and an expert in PHA compliance and operations, explains, “Our goal at Yardi is to help PHAs navigate HUD’s evolving requirements. The latest changes reflect greater flexibility and responsiveness in the HCV program.” Let’s take a closer look at these recent changes and how they may impact your agency. Notice PIH 2024-34 HUD recently released Notice PIH 2024-34, which provides guidance for PHAs on Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) payment standards as part of HOTMA voucher final rule. These changes are mandated by the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization (HOTMA) Act of 2016 and are designed to increase flexibility and equity in the HCV program. Relevant changes include how PHAs manage increases and decreases in payment standards, as well as adjustments to family composition and voucher size. Payment standard increase Under the notice, PHAs are now required to implement increases in payment standards during interim reexaminations, rather than waiting until annual reexamination or when moving into a new unit. This adjustment allows families to get help faster when rents go up. If the payment standard increases for households under a Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) contract, they will get the benefit of the new payment standard at the earliest of: A change in the gross rent or family share An interim or annual reexamination One year after the effective date of the new...

Senior living providers, like all property managers, must carefully screen prospective residents to ensure the safety of their communities. To avoid issues and liability risks, it’s important to examine criminal history and verify income when identifying new residents. And while resident screening may sound simple, keeping track of all requirements — for each individual prospect — is challenging. That’s why an automated screening system, one tailored to senior living communities, is essential. Fortunately for Yardi clients using RentCafe Senior CRM, that exact system is integrated into the resident move-in workflow. Meet ScreeningWorks Pro, our tenant background check solution. Why use resident screening? ScreeningWorks Pro provides comprehensive reports and automated recommendations to help senior living providers select low-risk residents, ensuring a safer environment for everyone. You can access critical information in real time, and results are customized to meet your criteria. Best of all, everything is compiled in one centralized system. That’s because ScreeningWorks Pro is integrated with the Voyager leasing workflow in Senior CRM. Both Senior CRM and ScreeningWorks Pro can communicate back and forth to: Submit applicant information for screening Submit changes to existing screenings Communicate application results back into the system’s screening page Benefits of ScreeningWorks Pro What else sets ScreeningWorks Pro apart? Tailored to the needs of senior living providers, this built-in solution helps you: Obtain applicant credit histories that can be evaluated using Vantage 3.0 or your specific credit criteria Conduct comprehensive criminal record checks Examine civil court records for past landlord-tenant disputes including filings, judgements and forcible detainers Enable automatic income verification Review apartment rental payment history from Experian RentBureau Check for possible matches to the Specifically Designated National (SDN) list from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Customize your screening processes to ensure you comply with Fair Housing laws,...

The Yardi Affordable Housing and PHA Forum will bring together Yardi clients, team members and industry leaders in a group setting for discussion of challenges and technology solutions. If you are not yet signed up to attend, make plans today! The Forum is happening in Nashville on April 10-11. Get additional details and a link to register. What does the Yardi Forum offer? New this year, the Forum will host panel presentations from affordable housing and PHA industry leaders. Panels will cover topical subjects, including the state of the industry with considerations of changes to funding processes and compliance requirements, such as HOTMA. The core of the Forum agenda is in-person classroom learning. When you attend the Forum, you have a prime opportunity to increase the benefits Yardi solutions can deliver to your agency or affordable housing organization. Forum attendees can choose from 60+ classes, each covering specific Yardi products and/or industry topics. Classes are generally small, taught by Yardi employees, and are set up to encourage questions from attendees. Who should attend the Yardi Forum? As an instructional learning event, the Forum is designed for PHA and affordable housing professionals who use Yardi every day. From front office site staff to accountants and housing compliance specialists (and everyone in between), the Forum is a perfect setting to find new ways to leverage Yardi technology. What benefits will Forum attendees get? Opportunities to learn proper use of Yardi solutions at the Forum go beyond what users may get from online classes, user manuals and independent research. The Forum offers focused sessions that cover topics critical to finding efficiency in the workplace with Yardi technology. Many Yardi clients are familiar with our annual Yardi Advanced Solutions Conference (YASC). While YASC is always a big, exciting...

Last year, Yardi joined a select club of businesses to whom the Better Business Bureau grants membership. The BBB accepted Yardi after completing an accreditation process that certified the company’s rigorous ethical practices in business operations, dispute resolution and data protection. The BBB, founded in 1912 and based in Arlington, Virginia, is a nonprofit organization that partners with leading companies to promote best practices in business ethics, marketplace excellence and effective industry self-regulation. More than 90 BBB chapters are active in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Benefits of BBB membership include positive visibility and credibility among consumers and other businesses. Accredited businesses can leverage online BBB advertising, marketing and media resources, along with a plaque, certificate and window decals. The membership also offers consumers a platform for resolving disputes and posting reviews. “These tools will help you to enhance your reputation and build a better business,” says Rick Copelan, president and CEO of the BBB chapter that encompasses the tri-county area around Yardi’s headquarters in Santa Barbara, California. This chapter approves only 6% of applications for certification. “Earning BBB membership helps us show our clients and the real estate markets we serve that we’re committed to delivering high-quality products and services while upholding the highest standard of ethical conduct,” says Arnold Brier, senior vice president and general counsel for...

Happy February! Our senior living clients shared stories of warmth and love this winter, captured on social media and blogs. Embrace the spirit of love in senior living communities with vibrant flowers, the beauty of art, delightful dining experiences and cherished wedding anniversaries. Nature’s love letters Maplewood Senior Living shared a flower-arranging activity from Maplewood at Darien, an event to encourage the power of creativity to enrich the lives of residents. Maplewood shared that arranging flowers “not only brought out their artistic flair but also fostered a sense of accomplishment and joy.” Celebrating February as HEART month, Maplewood also shared about raising money for the HEART Foundation and highlighted inspiring stories of love in Maplewood communities.    Cooking up memories and sweet treats Special food and cooking events are popular activities at many of our clients’ communities. The Bristal Assisted Living shared a gathering of the Foodie Club at The Bristal at Lake Grove where residents made strawberry shortcake. Brandywine by Monarch shared pictures from Princeton by Monarch, where the community warmed up a cold day by surprising residents who signed up for the “mystery ride” activity with a stop for hot chocolate and sweet treats. The Turning Point restaurant served specialties like the s’mores heavenly hot chocolate. Northbridge shared an intergenerational cooking demonstration at Stroudwater Lodge with students from Acton Academy in Kennebunkport, Maine. Merrill Gardens shared a blog post about Bridges Bistro, a special event where residents at the Murano Senior Living community served meals, in collaboration with the University of Washington’s Memory Hub community center. “Bridges Bistro was more than a dining experience,” wrote the Team at Merril Gardens. “It was a bridge between the dementia community and the wider world. By showcasing the strengths and resilience of individuals living with...

As senior living communities navigate ways to adopt value-based care approaches that improve resident health outcomes and increase operational returns, proactive technology solutions can make a big difference. What if you could track residents’ mobility and prevent falls using motion analysis from smartphone sensors? OneStep, a leader in AI-powered digital care technology, is now partnering with us to provide an interface with Yardi EHR that generates clinical insights from residents’ everyday movements. Empowering proactive resident monitoring OneStep’s advanced motion analysis and monitoring tools connect with Yardi EHR to add a reliable, data-driven way to enhance resident well-being. How does it work? OneStep uses motion intelligence from smartphones for gait analysis. A resident’s gait is a leading indicator of health, and senior living providers and other clinicians can use data from the smartphone sensors — without any special wearable devices — for remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM). With actionable data to assess, treat and monitor residents, providers can deliver precise and proactive care to improve mobility and enhance resident engagement. This informed care can prevent falls and reduce functional declines. A big step for value-based care Through this collaboration, Yardi EHR clients gain easy access to motion insights from OneStep. These insights equip senior care providers with proactive strategies for resident monitoring, particularly beneficial for communities that are transitioning to value-based care. Robust fall prevention and resident health monitoring are essential to achieving improved outcomes and reduced costs. “We’re excited to partner with Yardi to make our mobility and falls prevention technology accessible to senior living communities,” says Pat Tarnowski, chief commercial officer of OneStep. “Being listed among Yardi’s trusted vendors adds to the accessibility and visibility of OneStep’s technology, allowing more facilities to benefit from innovative, data-driven care solutions that elevate resident safety and quality...

Here’s the latest of our periodic updates on projects sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which calls itself “the disruption wing of the U.S. Department of Energy that funds and directs the discovery of outlier energy technologies that are strategic to America’s energy security.” Recently announced projects include: Enhancing grid resilience Thirty million dollars in ARPA-E grants announced in January will go toward developing technologies designed to enhance the reliability of America’s power grid. The Grid Reliability with Automatic Damping and Inertia for Electrical Networks and Transmission Systems (GRADIENTS) program aims to develop hardware and software technologies, such as power electronics controls, intelligent relays and optimization algorithms, for balancing energy consumption and production. “GRADIENTS technologies will help incorporate a variety of generation sources and stabilize the grid to prevent cascading failures that can lead to dangerous and costly blackouts,” said Evelyn N. Wang, director of ARPA-E, who added that the projects will “enable better grid coordination, protection and real-time control.” Hot new power source Also in January, ARPA-E announced funding to spur geothermal power production. Geothermal baseload production in the U.S. is limited to 4 gigawatts (GW). The Stimulate Utilization of Plentiful Energy in Rocks through High-temperature Original Technologies (SUPERHOT) project aims to provide access to superhot reservoirs deep within the Earth that are capable of producing up to 20 GW of reliable baseload power. Research will center around developing designing systems and materials capable of surviving superhot conditions. “Geothermal is a reliable and secure baseload power source, but today we are only able to access a fraction of the energy it can provide,” Wang said. “SUPERHOT projects can change that and allow access to hotter reservoirs to create more domestic flow of energy onto America’s grid.” Making the most of waste...

What if you could save thousands of dollars and hours each year while improving your utility management processes? Jessica Stevens, director of business systems and technology at BRG Realty, recently shared how the Yardi Energy Suite has helped the company overcome challenges and achieve tangible results by transforming their processes, improving efficiency and increasing recovery by nearly $650,000. About BRG Realty BRG Realty Group, LLC is a multifamily property management company serving greater Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and areas of Kentucky and Indiana. Their mission is to foster high-quality communities through innovative management, providing dependable services to residents, associates and business partners. Transforming processes Within the past few years, BRG has grown rapidly. To support their rapid growth, they needed to streamline operations and manage utilities more efficiently. To ease the burden on their accounting team and improve financial recovery from utility costs, BRG chose the Yardi Energy Suite, built into Voyager, as their solution. While the initial transition was “nerve-wracking” for the accounts payable (AP) team, they quickly realized the value. “Now they never want to go back,” Stevens said. Additionally, Yardi Pulse reports provide real-time data and analytics, helping BRG to detect and address issues like leaks or equipment failures promptly. Their team has been able to save 1,500 hours annually with Utility Billing and Utility Invoice Processing. Stevens described the transformation as “huge,” underscoring the substantial positive impact on their business. This investment has raised resident utility billing cost recovery from 70% to over 81% in just two years. With Yardi, BRG has saved countless hours, enabling them to support the company’s rapid expansion. Stevens explains, “From 2021 to 2023, we recovered a little over $650,000, and by 2024, we’re projected to recover 86%. It’s real dollars we can take and put...

Reflect culture through the language of color. Let’s explore how Pantone’s Color of the Year will capture the real estate market with cultural comfort and collective desire. The 2025 Color of the Year is Mocha Mousse (17-1230), described as “A warming, brown hue imbued with richness. It nurtures us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort.” Aside from the velvety, smooth and mouthwatering dessert, Mocha Mousse is a versatile color that can evoke humbleness and comfort while still on the luxe level. And who couldn’t use some comfort this year? This soft, warming brown hue can be used in various designs across most industries, inspiring creativity and innovation. Elevate curb appeal and interior design with this timeless beauty Mocha Mousse is a warm brown hue, adding a sophisticated and inviting look to the property’s exterior. Shutters and front doors in Mocha Mousse, paired with neutral siding and metallic hardware, offer a welcoming focal point. Shutters in Mocha Mousse can frame windows beautifully. Incorporate subtle contrasts using Mocha Mousse with taupe, beige and blue. Or create more of a relaxed elegance with beige, cream and amber. Landscaping harmony with this earthy shade complements natural stone, wooden accents and vibrant green foliage, enhancing curb appeal. Think of a springtime garden with floral blends using Mocha Mousse. A shaded willow green leading down a pathway of gray cobblestone completes nature’s harmony, creating a cohesive look with nature-inspired design trends. For interior design, some may fear that Mocha Mousse may be what “millennial gray” did in the early 2010s, but when using Mocha Mousse, it adds more warmth to space and leans towards the moody art deco tones in a non-committal way. This warm, earthy neutral feels rich and grounded...

The 46th edition of trends and forecast publication Emerging Trends in Real Estate® is out. Compiled by PwC and the Urban Land Institute, this report details trends in real estate investment and development, finance and capital markets, property sectors and other key issues in the U.S. and Canada. The report incorporates contributions from Yardi Matrix and CommercialEdge. building and cranes under construction against blue sky Here are excerpts from the report: Multifamily: Focus on affordability Supply will dominate apartment market conversations in 2025. Some experts remain bullish on the prospect of ongoing strong demand over the next few years due to strong job growth, favorable demographics, immigration, the high cost of homeownership and the lack of single-family inventory. However, a growing number of renters are cost burdened, underscoring the need for more market-rate and affordable supply. Industrial: Demand lags supply When the pandemic prompted a dramatic surge in online shopping, the industrial sector experienced a significant shortage of warehouse and third-party logistics facilities. Developers responded with record construction. More than 1 billion square feet of new product was added in the last two years alone, far exceeding prior records. Net absorption has been positive, but demand has not kept pace with new supply, so the amount of vacant space continues to grow. Retail: In rebound mode Few foresaw the strong rebound in demand for physical retail space that occurred following the 2020 pandemic year and drove retail vacancy rates below levels not seen in more than a decade. The number of distressed chains either liquidating or seeking debtor protection increased more than 50% in 2024. “Thus, while retail sales have remained in positive territory since 2020, the impacts of the recent inflationary wave and resultant money tightening policies have taken a toll,” but “overall...

Have you explored RentCafe Senior CRM, our prospect-centric customer relationship management solution for senior living? Senior CRM has fresh and exciting features designed to provide seamless experiences for both sales counselors and prospective residents.  Meet Senior CRM At Yardi, we prioritize listening to client feedback. We’ve taken thoughtful comments on Senior CRM — and gathered insights on what CRM functionality is missing in the industry — to create a fresh, enhanced product. Senior CRM includes an attractive user interface, new features and evolved communication capabilities. Note that we kept well-loved dashboards, but we’ve added a whole new level of functionality and made things more user-friendly. There’s a range of exciting workflows in the product, but as a highlight, Senior CRM clients have access to: A communication hub: Send and manage all communications with prospective residents including calls, texts and emails from one convenient location. Lead stages: Unlock lead stages functionality that guides sales teams through the entire prospect journey. Benefit from seamless automation for common tasks at every stage, from lead all the way to move-in. A prospect overview page: See the prospect overview at the click of a button with a centralized, easy-to-access page that presents impactful data. Intuitive dashboards: Manage your digital forms in one place with a comprehensive dashboard that shows every document and its various stages. Enjoy additional dashboards for managing waitlists, occupancy and more. Campaigns: Benefit from new functionality that makes it easy to send email and text blasts, then track successes such as click and open rates. You have access to premade templates, or you can create campaigns on your own. Electronic leasing: Save time on paperwork and streamline your move-in workflow with electronic leases. Enjoy simplified workflows for every step of the move-in process. Move-in readiness: Review...

What better way to celebrate the holidays than enjoying yourself outdoors? Get out of the winter blues and SAD this winter season and explore how to celebrate a festival of winter walks. Enjoy a sense of freedom and the benefits of being outdoors Take this holiday season to enjoy the wonders of nature and get together with family and friends. Winter walks bring individuals and groups together to enjoy walking and are a great way to be active. Did you know walking is the most popular exercise in the United States? The average walking speed is 3.1 miles per hour. The average distance a person walks is about 75,000 miles during their lifetime. Walking helps boost your mood by increasing blood flow to the brain. Walking ten miles per week, instead of traveling by vehicle, would save 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year! Winter walk adventures The holidays can be overwhelming and stressful! Walking has immense healing powers and is so great for you. Take this opportunity to walk more. Winter walks offer a break from the hustle and bustle. If you want to be more involved in fitness, create a challenge, such as walking a certain distance or number of days each week and include a downloadable tracker. Most smartwatches include outdoor walking apps that track elevation, speed and distance. If you prefer to walk solo, embrace the silence and have a reflective winter walk for the soul. The unique tranquility of winter walking can inspire introspection. Walking in the quiet stillness of winter reduces anxiety and enhances focus. While walking, do some mindfulness exercises such as deep breathing and connecting with the surroundings, such as focusing on the crunch of snow underfoot. Bring a small notebook and jot down thoughts...

As citizens of the U.S. and other nations increasingly adopt online solutions for payments, debate swirls over whether currency, especially coins, is needed at all. Cash was used for just 16% of in-person transactions in 2023, down from 26% in 2019, prompting calls for an economy based almost exclusively on online transactions or cryptocurrencies. With regard to coins, debate in the U.S. usually centers on the one cent piece. Detractors note that at 3 cents per, they are costly to make, racking up a loss of $86 million in 2023 alone; they comprise zinc and copper, whose mining and industrial use can have negative environmental and health impacts; they have virtually no standalone purchasing power; they’re heavy, with a dollar’s worth weighing about half a pound; and they’re underused, with an estimated 240 billion of them languishing in couches, jars, sidewalks, old clothing and elsewhere. COVID-19 intensified the debate, as coins became scarce when people stopped spending them at places like laundromats, banks, restaurants and shops. “The pandemic has made it much easier to imagine a world without coins, and already reinvigorated the movement to get rid of pennies. For banks, credit card companies and some Bitcoin advocates, the demise of each unit of cash would be welcome news,” the New York Times reported in November 2020. No new coins were minted in the United Kingdom in 2024, officials having decided that the estimated 27 billion coins in circulation were sufficient. New Zealand, Canada and other countries have dispensed with their lowest value coins altogether over the years. But pennies, which the U.S. Mint makes in Denver and Philadelphia, have their supporters too. Some argue that several American charities rely on penny donations. Others point out that eliminating coins or currency can burden people...