Tenant Assistance Programs Keep Dropping The Ball, How Do I Fix This?

[Jeff G.]

I have tenants on various forms of assistance in the Akron / Canton area. As long as rent gets paid I don't actually care who is and is not on assistance. Unfortunately, I'm running into problems that I do care about:

1. Moving between assistance programs usually takes about 45 days. When a tenant switches from one assistance program to another often I don't get paid for a month and a half during the transition. At about the month and a half mark I get paid in full including any back rent. I can plan for this if the tenant gives me a heads up ahead of time — which they usually do — but it's annoying. Thankfully this doesn't happen too frequently.
2. The tenant is doing everything right but the assistance program pays out late. Very late. I've had months were I knew the assistance program was going to pay out but I didn't get the check until the 25th of the month. Unfortunately, it's not just the first month the tenant is on assistance, it's becoming an every month issue for some tenants. How the heck do I put a stop to this? In nearly all cases the tenant is paying in a timely manner.
3. The tenant's assistance check is randomly short and my PM has to hassle their case manager to get it fixed. Sometimes I wonder if the assistance program thinks I won't notice and is trying to get away with paying less to "save the program money." I hope that isn't true, but some moths it sure feels like it is. In other cases this is a clue that the tenant has come to the end of the road on assistance program A and is about to switch to assistance program B. That's not so bad except then I am probably not going to see any rent for another 45 days, see the first problem.
4. It makes real delinquencies harder to spot. It easier for tenants to feign attempts at assistance, thereby extending the timeline for any necessary evictions which does ultimately impact my cash flow. This one hasn't happened yet. Statistically, it will if I don't get control of the situation.

Taken together I'm increasingly in a situation where getting paid rent by the tenant promptly and by the city or state... eventually. 

The assistance payouts are usually just fast enough to make eviction an impractical solution to the problem. This is becoming a problem and my PM is really starting to pull her hair out. What can I do to improve the situation? I realize I probably can't do much about the situation where the tenant is switching assistance programs. But there has got to be a way to fix the second and third problem. Solving those two problems will prevent problem four from happening.

[Jill F.]

What assistance programs have you had this experience with?

[Jeff G.]

Section 8, which has thus far been the best in Canton... Knock on wood. In Arkon, it seems to be another matter. They routinely pay out around the 15th of the month.

One single and pregnant tenant has bounced through a few public and private assistance programs. There was some sort of State rental assistance, I think, for unwed pregnant mothers. That one ran its course. If I'm not mistaken, the United Way was helping her at one point. She just moved to another one and my PM hasn't gotten me the name of that one just yet.

That's probably not an exhaustive list, even my PM is having a hard time keeping track.