Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers
The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers was spending an excessive amount of staff time repetitively explaining the public housing and Section 8 application processes to families seeking affordable housing. Further, the coronavirus pandemic made in-person MHACY unit tours unsafe for residents, staff, and prospective tenants. QuickFrame streamlined the housing application process with explainer videos that maintained a personal touch and developed a cost-effective Covid-safe virtual tour to remotely view available units.
PUBLIC AUTHORITY STORY
The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers (MHACY) provides affordable, stable, and safe housing opportunities within the City of Yonkers, New York. In collaboration with federal, state, and local governments, MHACY addresses the housing needs of low-income families by managing a wide variety of real estate properties, partnering with private developers to create affordable apartments, and administering a housing choice voucher program supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
THE GOAL
The housing application process requires extensive documentation and several multi-page applications that can be daunting and confusing for prospective tenants. In an effort to maintain the highest level of public service, MHACY staff were spending an inordinate amount of time educating applicants on the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8), Low Income Housing Tax Credits applications, and recertification processes. To streamline an inefficient and repetitive process—and to free up staff time to devote to vital agency operations—MHACY needed videos to explain all procedures while maintaining a personal touch.
Additionally, the coronavirus pandemic posed significant public health challenges for MHACY staff to safely deliver service on a daily basis. Particularly challenging was showcasing available affordable housing inventory to prospective tenants and families. To ensure safety, MHACY needed a timely solution to remote unit tours that were informative, welcoming, and reflective of the organization’s mission.
OUR APPROACH
QuickFrame devised concepts for 8 long-form explainer videos to walk through all aspects of the housing application process in two languages—English and Spanish. For a personal approach, live action footage featuring MHACY staff was married with motion graphics that provide clear visual aids to applicants. Videos were shot on location in the City of Yonkers over two days with post-production editing work executed by a QuickFrame maker in Portland, Oregon. To produce remote unit tours, QuickFrame worked with MHACY to identify core affordable housing units that represented a diverse cross-section of its affordable housing options—from townhouses to high-rise apartments, 1-bedroom senior to 4-bedroom family units. To maximize production efficiency, a QuickFrame maker specializing in real estate interiors was able to capture footage of all units over a two-day period. Videos were shot, edited, and delivered within a two-week timeframe and published on MHACY's website and social media.
RESULTS
How-To Videos
Virtual Real Estate Tours
Total Minutes of Content
Wilson Kimball
President and CEO, Municipal Housing Authority, City of Yonkers
The coronavirus changed the way the world does business. At the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers (MHACY) we no longer conduct in-person interviews, pre-inspections of units, or unit tours for prospective tenants. Unfortunately, delays in certifying clients or moving tenants into housing hurts our tenants and costs us money. QuickFrame's approach to video allowed us to make up time and saved us money by providing a fast, responsive work-around to the unique challenges presented by COVID-19.