Rural Development Specialist Lea McGiboney and Fort Benton, Montana resident Velma Hansen share a laugh as Lea makes sure the Canyon Villas Apartments are providing safe and affordable homes for Velma and her neighbors.
Velma Hansen has lived in Fort Benton, Montana for over 60 years, the last dozen of them at Canyon Villas. The engaging 91-year-old keeps an impeccably clean apartment in the rent-controlled complex financed by USDA Rural Development. As one of our hundreds of multi-family properties across rural America, Rural Development regularly inspects the properties to ensure they meet basic standards for safe and sanitary housing. If problems are noted, the property owners must address them, and do so immediately.
Right now, a specialist inspects the property, takes paper notes and digital photos, and then returns to the office to input all the data – essentially touching all the data twice to get it in our system – before being able to follow up on any necessary repairs that were noted during the servicing visit. We decided there was opportunity to invest a little technology in streamlining this process.
USDA Rural Development is currently field testing an iPad app that allows specialists to directly input photos and data about the properties from the field. Montana Housing Specialist Lea McGiboney is one of the field testers for our new multi-family servicing app, and was able to speak with Velma about her home. During their conversation, Velma noted a problem with her refrigerator and now Canyon Villas has been alerted to the issue and is being given thirty days to fix it. Lea inspected several other units as well as the overall property so she can provide a list of corrective actions to the property owner.
The app helps our field specialists like Lea do their jobs more efficiently, and that allows us to serve our customers – like Velma – better. Without affordable living options like Canyon Villas, folks like Velma would have to leave the rural communities they call home. With this new servicing app, USDA Rural Development will ensure properties provide the safe and sanitary housing for the communities they serve, better service for our customers, and save time and taxpayer resources in the process.
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