To: Honorable Chair and Commissioners
From: Vincent Smith, Community Development Director
Prepared By: Lark Ferrell, Housing Manager
TITLE:
Title
Software Agreement for Section 8 Housing Program
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendationle
Adopt a resolution authorizing the Executive Director to execute Amendment No. 1 to the Master Agreement with MRI Software to upgrade the Authority's software system for monitoring the Section 8 Housing program, over a five-year term with a total cost of $275,235.
Body
DISCUSSION:
The Housing Authority (the "Authority") is currently under a five-year agreement with MRI Software for its Section 8 software. The Authority has used Happy software as its Section 8 software for over 20 years. The Authority uses a variety of software modules including, but not limited to, an inspection module to track and schedule unit inspections, a module to calculate tenants' incomes and rent portions, and a module for the Family Self Sufficiency Program. HAPPY software is also used each month by Housing and Finance staff to make housing assistance payments to the Section 8 landlords.
MRI will no longer be supporting the Authority's current Happy software version. Having software which is supported and maintained is critical to the Authority's ability to continue to efficiently and effectively operate the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. Additionally, a software upgrade would move the data to a cloud-based platform. This will allow MRI to provide all required software support. This would free up time for the City's IT staff. Another benefit to the software upgrade is it would allow the Authority to implement electronic inspection reporting. Using I-pads to enter inspection results, inspectors would be able to enter inspection results in real time directly into Happy while still at the property. This will significantly streamline the inspection reporting process and reduce errors.
The Authority currently has approxi...
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