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VHDA

Case studies - Virginia Housing Development Authority

The Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) is the state of Virginia’s mortgage finance agency. Created in 1972 by the Virginia General Assembly, their mission is to help low- and moderate-income Virginians attain quality, affordable housing. VHDA’s Multifamily Department (which includes Underwriting, Tax Credit Allocation and Asset Management) offers multifamily/rental loan programs to assist large and small developers in purchasing, rehabilitating and renovating apartments and rental properties. Within this division, the authority also administers the Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, which encourages the development of affordable rental housing by providing owners with a federal income tax credit.

The Challenge
Over time, the Multifamily Department had evolved into separate divisions that were largely disconnected and out of sync. Their directive included solving the following challenges:

  • Integrate the department’s processes and improve automation
  • Improve accuracy and consistency of data throughout the department
  • Consolidate legacy applications
  • Improve customer self-service for both internal and external customers

The Solution
The overall vision was a unified software product and database that allows visibility into the entire deal process. VHDA chose ProLink Solutions because of their significant experience within the mortgage banking industry, plus the ProLink application is a very customizable solution that works with the current VHDA technology. The end solution was designed to not hamper the ‘art’ of completing a creative and complex deal, and works with VHDA’s Excel-based business rules rather than having to replace it.

The Results
The end result is more than 20 individual systems consolidated down to one unified database that allows deals to be tracked from pre-pipeline through closing. In conjunction with this approach, VHDA has also identified a second project to develop a ‘datamart’ for the Multifamily Department, allowing them to report on relevant items within strategic units, preservation, revitalization or even where vacant units are at any given time.