Most housing organizations handle lawn maintenance and snow removal directly or through an insured third-party contractor, but it's not uncommon for residents of scattered sites to take on the responsibility. This can take the burden off busy maintenance teams and help instill a sense of pride in residents, but is it worth the risk?

Online reputation management is more crucial than ever in maintaining a successful multifamily operation. In terms of attracting potential residents, building a positive online reputation can be a gamechanger, because a vast majority of consumers search online to find local businesses and services.

If you’re a high-achieving housing agency looking to continuously improve your operations, getting accredited with the Affordable Housing Accreditation Board (AHAB) is a great next step. AHAB, an independent organization, has been accrediting affordable housing providers nationwide since 2018 based on eight standards developed by the housing industry. To help you learn more about the benefits of accreditation, along with the process, HAI Group’s Staci Canny sat down with Jeff Weslow, assistant director of AHAB, to get a closer look.

Playgrounds are fun places for children to play, and outdoor playgrounds offer a healthy balance to staying indoors. They provide growing young people with an outlet for their energy, as well as a place to develop emotional, social, and intellectual skills and abilities.

With a strong playground safety program that includes inspection and maintenance, playgrounds can be very safe spaces for children to learn and grow. That goes without saying; if your organization doesn’t have safety precautions in place, playgrounds can be dangerous.

Housing organizations taking on large construction projects may be exposed to insurance products they aren’t familiar with to cover construction-related risks. One such product is wrap-up insurance, a type of construction liability policy with two variations—owner-controlled insurance programs (OCIPs) and contractor-controlled insurance programs (CCIPs).

Insurance isn’t optional for multifamily affordable housing organizations (or anyone, for that matter). To that end, part of our mission at HAI Group is to make the process of securing and using coverage in times of need as reasonable and straightforward as possible for our customers.

So long as a housing organization has employees, it is likely to face some type of employment practice liability exposure. Fortunately, there are ways an organization can mitigate this type of loss. The first step is understanding the types of claims that can arise if your organization doesn't abide by the applicable state and federal employment laws.

It’s common to assume your general liability insurance policy covers cyber liability. The reality is that these policies are separate but equally important in today’s landscape. General liability coverage protects housing organizations from a wide range of exposures, including injuries and property damage, but isn’t designed to handle the nuance of cyber risk.

As more public housing agencies dip into the private market—at a time when settlement values and jury awards are rising due to social inflation—it's never been more critical for affordable housing providers to build a cushion into their liability coverage.

Energy costs can contribute substantially to the overall financial burden of housing. Inefficient buildings—those with poor insulation, leaky windows, outdated HVAC equipment, and the like—are of particular concern, since they drive up utility costs more than their efficient peers.