ROCKFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY’S TEN CORE VALUES- Accountable

• Leadership
• Respectful
• Quality
• Accountable
• Integrity
• Consistent
• Resourcefulness
• Caring
• Collaborative
• Professional

This blog series will define each of these values and explain how they relate to RHA’s work.

Accountable

We, at the Rockford Housing Authority, have dedicated ourselves  to the vision of establishing ourselves as a high performing agency that is a leader in housing and sustainable communities by developing additional, non-HUD revenue streams, increasing our asset base and offering state of the art resident initiatives. This will only come to fruition if we remain accountable to advancing our goal.

To RHA, accountability means, exercising control of our projects, managing community expectations, practicing proactive communication and regularly offering the opportunity for collaboration.

Why be accountable? RHA chooses to be accountable because we care about our community, so when there’s a problem we fix it, when we saw upgrades needed to be made we’re there. When problems present themselves we are one of the first to step up and take action. This is what being accountable is and this is why it is one of our core values.

Exercising control and managing expectations

The best way to maintain control of a project is to construct a detailed plan and policy. Such action will create a clearly

defined protocol, which, in turn, increases productivity and efficiency. Furthermore, promoting the plan aids in managing expectations.  If the protocol is easily accessible to others, vagueness diminishes and expectations are better maintained.

RHA has created and published a redevelopment plan, which indicates our commitment to these characteristics of accountability. Our plan, The Choice Neighborhood Plan, outlines our intent to modernize existing housing units and enhance their energy performance.  More information on this plan can be found here.

Practicing proactive communication

RHA is also committed to maintaining open lines of communication with the community. One of the ways we do this is through public comment periods.  This initiative was created as an opportunity for community members to voice their opinions about plans RHA has laid out, their beliefs on how RHA is handling ongoing projects and offer suggestions on how we could improve. Since our main objective is to improve the lives of community members, input is of the utmost importance to us. 

Fostering Collaboration

Similarly, we are dedicated to creating a space that welcomes collaboration. We support this idea through our monthly scheduled board meetings.  These meetings are held every second Thursday of the month. We use these meetings as an opportunity to regroup on ongoing projects and ensure that each employee is performing their functions in the most efficient and effective manner. These meetings also provide the community the opportunity to follow our progress and learn about new initiatives.

We are dedicated to accountability and we look forward to continuing to lead our organization with this core value in mind.