Scattered Site Rental Toolkit:
Business Planning for Development & Management
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IV.D. Providing or Partnering for Tenant Services

Tenant services are any assistance you or partners provide your tenants beyond providing them a well maintained unit. For example, childcare, transportation and substance abuse counseling are all tenant services. Services can sometimes make the difference between tenants being able to successfully manage their life, finances and home and often play an integral role in housing stability. In other words, the services help households stay in their rental units.

Services for SSR development also can be challenging to provide. The dispersed nature of the units makes it more difficult to provide some services, which is one more reason why clustering is important. In addition, finding a means to pay for services, developing the skills and the staff required to provide these services and managing the services can all be difficult.

Providing services to scattered site tenants is virtually impossible without partnering. If your organization is focused on housing development and management, it does not make sense to add case management to your core work. Partner with other agencies in your area to meet the needs of your tenants. You may have to help services partners secure additional funding for tenant services.

When considering tenant services be sure to look use an Enterprise Community Partners manual entitled, “Resident Services Step-By-Step.” It is an excellent web-based publication that helps you determine what services would most benefit your residents, how to fund, staff, design, implement, partner and measure the effectiveness of those services. It also provides helpful sample documents. You can locate the manual at: www.enterprisecommunity.org/resources/tutorials/resident_services/

Next: IV.E. Example of Tenant Services Provided by Beyond Housing, Inc.

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