Craig Patterson is on a mission to modernize public housing authorities across the country. For over 35 years, Patterson’s consulting firm, Patterson & Associates Consulting (PAC), has worked nationwide to improve public housing processes, documentation workflows, and data collection.
“We take care of the painful Ps and replace them with powerful Ps. For example, policies, procedures, paper processes, pain points. We turn it into productivity, performance, precision, and peace of mind. All with Jotform Enterprise.”
Patterson & Associates Consulting case study results at a glance
50 percent reduction:
In administrative burdens
70 percent reduction:
In waitlist handling costs, some with 100,000 people
80 percent reduction:
In manual data entry
Human cost of going paperless
Creating tech bundles that help public housing authorities embrace technology has ripple effects for everyone, from receptionists to recipients.
“When you’re dealing with tens of thousands of people that use public housing, paper-based processes can be wearisome to the people, wearisome to the trees, wearisome to the temps you have to hire, all of that.”
Patterson had been using Jotform on and off for years. Still, when he implemented Jotform Enterprise permanently for his consultees, he saw a 70 percent decrease in overall housing waitlist–related costs.
Quicker paperwork turnaround
Applying for public housing can be challenging for low-income people. Applicants need to take time off work and travel downtown to complete paperwork. This often takes time and money that applicants don’t have. With Jotform Enterprise, that barrier to applying is eliminated.
“They can fill out the form in the middle of the night, 24-7, and get a confirmation that they filled out the form, which gives them peace of mind. So now that prevents a phone call or a trip downtown.”
With Jotform Enterprise, housing authorities can simply text a form link, and they will often receive 30,000 responses that same day.
Eliminating paper and PDF forms saves time and money on the back end too — so much time that Patterson whittled down a process that typically took two months to two days.
Improved waitlist update times
Depending on the region, people can be on public housing waitlists for four to 10 years.
Keeping waitlists updated is vital to ensure people continue to move through the process. Usually, people on the waitlist fill out a form to update their information and housing needs in a specific area. Housing authorities traditionally use paper, but mailing paper forms can be tricky. Patterson’s clients would mail 100,000 forms to waitlisted people, and 45,000 would return to them, marked undeliverable.
Because public housing authorities use public funds, they have to show they made a good-faith effort to contact people on the waitlist. So, they would have to mail the form again. This turned waitlist updating into a monthslong process that only happened once a year.
You’re talking about housing. You’re talking about humanity. You’re talking about a person having a place to stay, and you can’t always mail forms to them. Sometimes all they have is a cellphone. Jotform Enterprise allows us to connect with people who may not have a residence to which you can send a piece of physical mail.
Craig Patterson, President and CEO, Patterson & Associates Consulting
With Jotform Enterprise, public housing authorities don’t have to worry about whether they have the most current addresses for people who can move around a lot. Paperless waitlists also mean public housing authorities don’t have to waste time entering data, because it all goes right into an electronic system of the authorities’ choosing.
Implementing Jotform Enterprise eliminated 80 percent of the need for manual data entry, and public housing authorities can update waitlists more than once a year, allowing people to move up waitlists faster and more efficiently.
Patterson & Associates, Agency Partners
As a consultant for government authorities, Patterson & Associates must sell reliable and stable solutions. Patterson must also implement easy-to-use tools, so he became a Jotform Agency Partner.
Patterson’s technology bundles from Jotform Enterprise, which include almost all of Jotform’s products, have been shown to cut form turnaround times and reduce manual labor by 50 percent when answering critical questions.
Patterson also decided to partner with Jotform Enterprise for the stability. “Jotform Enterprise’s growth path has been very positive and stable,” he says, “and that’s what I like about it.”
Patterson knows that his consultees will use Jotform Enterprise for years after his contract is up.
“We’re using a tool that has stability beyond just us as the implementer. Jotform Enterprise is a tool government organizations can rely on. We don’t just recommend any technology to our clients, because it’s public money, public funds. They’re relying on us to be very credible.”
If you’re curious about Jotform’s Partner Programs, check out our partnerships page.
AI Agents for public housing
In an industry as complex as public housing, having a source of truth for the many rules and regulations can be a huge advantage for everyone involved. So Patterson made AI Agents for his consultees and used various resources to train them, from YouTube videos to uploaded files.
“We call her Pace, because she helps everyone keep pace,” Patterson says of one of his agents. These AI housing specialists are available 24-7 to double-check waitlist status, verify procurement guidelines, and more.
The procurement AI Agent was especially helpful because procurement is one of the hardest areas in which housing authorities operate. Patterson named his AI procurement agent Graham.
Public housing authority procurement is subject to a complicated web of state, federal, and local laws and regulations. Instead of combing through pages and pages of regulations, users can ask Graham a question, and the agent will answer in seconds. Graham will even cite the section of the Housing and Urban Development Handbook that contains the policy.
After implementing AI Agents, Patterson says he saw a 50 percent decrease in wait times and administrative burdens.
“We give PHAs [public housing authorities] the plan so they can help the people. We’ve seen a 50 percent reduction in administrative burdens because we’ll use AI Agents to answer questions.”
Patterson & Associates Consulting is ready for an AI-first world
Over the next five years, Patterson & Associates is committed to leading the adoption of AI tools. As an entire generation embraced mobile devices, Patterson is excited about how individuals and organizations are shifting toward personal and enterprise AI solutions.
Patterson knows that modern tools will have AI embedded by default, but structuring those AI solutions to support, communicate with, and empower people is where PAC shines. PAC wants to empower even the smallest public agencies to embrace and benefit from what Jotform Enterprise has to offer.
Furthermore, Patterson wants to continue providing practical solutions to his consultees without reinventing the wheel. He feels that his partnership with Jotform Enterprise will help him to do just that.
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