Truth #5: You Can't Outbid Every Employer. You Can Be the Place People Stay.
The Bottom Line: You cannot always win on salary, but you can build a workplace people choose to join and choose to stay in.
Introduction
The job posting has been open for three months. The strong candidate you finally found just took a better offer. Then, your most trusted specialist gave two weeks' notice right before recertification season. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Since COVID, hiring in public housing has gotten harder, and keeping good people has become just as hard. Budgets cap what you can pay, and the complexity of HUD programs scares off people who are new to the field. Most agencies cannot buy their way out of this. What you can change is why people come and why they stay.
What are the risks?
When turnover is treated as bad luck instead of something you manage, the cost shows up in three places.
First, the turnover treadmill never stops. Every departure restarts recruiting, onboarding, and months of training on complex program rules. It also pulls your best remaining people away from their own work to cover the gap and teach the new hire.
Second, burnout spreads. Vacancies land on the people who stayed. Heavier workloads with little recognition push the next resignation closer.
Third, service and compliance slip. New or stretched staff make more errors in files, recertifications, and inspections, and residents feel the delays. When experienced people leave, the knowledge of how things actually get done often leaves with them.
How can I be proactive?
You do not need a bigger salary budget. You need to treat retention as a habit you run, not a problem you react to.
Hold stay interviews, not just exit interviews. An exit interview tells you why someone is leaving, once it is too late to change their mind. A stay interview asks the people you want to keep three simple questions: What keeps you here? What might make you leave? What one thing would make your job better? Start with two or three people this quarter. Twenty minutes over coffee is enough. Act on at least one answer, and tell them you did.
Recruit for mission and aptitude, then teach the HUD rules. Lead job postings with purpose and stability, not acronyms. Hire for judgment, reliability, and care for residents, and plan to train them on the program details. Ask your best staff to refer people like them, and look to local colleges and workforce programs for candidates who want meaningful work. Describe a structured 90-day onboarding plan, so candidates see a path through the complexity instead of a wall.
Make recognition specific and frequent. A named thank-you in a staff meeting or a short note from the Executive Director costs nothing and means a lot. Name the behavior, not just the result. As an example, thank the specialist who caught an income error before it became a finding. Build it into your weekly rhythm, so it still happens in the busiest seasons.
Talk with your team, not at them. A short, regular update on what is changing, why, and what it means for their work keeps staff from guessing. Leave room for questions, and answer the hard ones honestly. People who understand where the agency is headed are far more likely to stay for the trip.
Questions for reflection
What strategies have you found most effective in keeping high-quality staff?
How has difficulty in hiring affected your agency's operations, team morale, or service to residents?
This post was inspired by "12 Truths for Executive Directors," an eBook written by Dakota Vaughn Koontz and Lindsey Reames. Their thoughtful, compassionate work laid the foundation for everything shared here. We are deeply grateful for their insight and for the heart they poured into supporting those who lead.
