My Hometown Housing RHA receives Community Visionary Award

Chili resident Shawn Burr, Executive Director of the Rochester Housing Authority (RHA), accepted the Community Visionary Award from MRI Software at the 2023 New York State Public Housing Authority Directors Association (NYSPHADA) meeting being held in Verona, NY. MRI awarded the Rochester Housing Authority this honor for consistently sharing user feedback, ideas and suggestions to drive innovations that benefit the community and other Public Housing Agencies.

When presenting the award, MRI cited RHA for providing feedback that has been instrumental in helping them to craft better processes to serve its customers and creating new client services. RHA continuously shares best practices with other agencies to help advance the industry.

Most recently, RHA innovated its communication with residents, applicants, and landlords by implementing a direct texting, calling, and emailing system. Additionally, residents are also now benefitted by being able to easily pay electronically. RHA recently migrated to MRI’s cloud-hosted environment which resulted in the ability to securely conduct business from anywhere with Internet connectivity.

“Rochester Housing Authority is honored to be recognized by MRI,” said Executive Director Shawn Burr. “We are proud of the communication and technology strides we have taken to benefit our communities, and look forward to continuing to enhance our communication, programs, and services into the future.”

Established in 1955 as an independent public corporation by New York State Public Housing Law, the Rochester Housing Authority (RHA) serves more than 27,000 lower-income residents and program participants in a five-county Greater Rochester area including Monroe, Orleans, Livingston, Ontario, and Wayne Counties. Approximately 20% of those reside in the 2,400+ RHA public housing units, while others served receive assistance in the form of voucher or certificate programs that help them afford eligible, private housing

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