LA County Public Housing Uses Job Order Contracting to Improve Affordable Residences

Challenge: Public Housing Authority Struggles to Keep Up with Repairs

The Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) is the second-largest public housing authority in California, responsible for 2,962 units that are home to over 6,000 residents, many of whom are elderly or disabled. As an organization dedicated to community development, LACDA fixes, maintains and repairs their units to alleviate safety risks and improve aesthetics. LACDA uses grant money to perform maintenance and repair work, but the funds are reduced if they don’t utilize them efficiently. In 2010, LACDA was struggling to spend and keep grant funding, only completing 10 to 15 repair and renovation projects each year. They needed a new tool to complete projects and meet their residents’ needs.

Solution: A New Construction Project Delivery Tool to Meet Residents’ Needs

In 2011, LACDA turned to Gordian’s Job Order Contracting (JOC) solution, a cost-effective, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) project delivery method that enables agencies to efficiently build safe, functional and reliable facilities for their communities. JOC reduced the administrative burden for LACDA’s maintenance, repair, refurbishment and modernization projects and lowered direct construction costs, while meeting all Federal, state and county procurement requirements. LACDA previously had to wait two-to-six months to procure construction services for each project, whereas Job Order Contracting allowed them to address property needs in as little as 30 days. Not only did this help LACDA meet residents’ needs faster, but it enabled them to meet more residents’ needs each year.

Result: A Nationally Recognized High Performer

In their years since implementing a JOC program, LACDA has increased their throughput from 15 projects per year to 60, a 400% increase. This has helped them grow their grant funding and maximize every dollar to reduce deferred maintenance issues and meet additional resident needs. LACDA has now met Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements for all of their residences, implemented energy conservation measures to lower living costs for their residents, rehabilitated previously vacant units to accommodate more residents and even completed emergency repairs in less than 24 hours.

Because of this, LACDA has been able to maintain a 99% occupancy rate and has been recognized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with High Performer status since 2011. Job Order Contracting is also allowing LACDA to give back to the local workforce by hiring more than 30% of their contractors from low- or very low-income areas in the county.