From Fragmented Processes to Scalable Systems: Rebuilding Operational Capacity at Umpqua CDC
Umpqua Community Development Corporation (Umpqua CDC), based in Roseburg, Oregon, is a long-standing housing organization serving Coos, Curry, and Douglas counties. With multiple departments spanning real estate development, property management, resident services, and financial coaching, the organization has historically played a significant role in delivering housing solutions across its region. In recent years, Umpqua CDC began expanding into new areas of work, including the creation of a Climate Resiliency Department focused on homeowner rehabilitation and energy efficiency improvements such as heat pump installations. While the organization brought strong institutional experience and reputation, this newer line of work introduced operational complexity that existing systems were not designed to support. Despite strong commitment and effort, the absence of clearly documented processes created inefficiencies across the workflow. Key operational steps—such as intake, bidding, construction management, and project closeout—were either inconsistently defined or embedded in outdated policy manuals that did not reflect actual practice. Departments operated in silos, limiting coordination and making it difficult to align the new Climate Resiliency work with existing organizational systems. In the spring of 2024, Umpqua applied to the Housing Assistance Council’s (HAC) OneRural direct technical assistance program and was officially onboarded into the program that summer. Through OneRural, HAC provides customized, one-on-one support to rural organizations working in affordable housing and community development, with a goal of supporting long-term growth and helping organizations expand their impact in their communities. “On my first site visit with the organization, I realized the Division of Climate Resiliency was newly formed, with a new director and a team struggling to find its place within the organization,” said HAC Housing Specialist Shreya Shrestha. “The department was operating in a silent way, with limited visibility across the organization, and other departments were not fully aware of their work or impact.” The implementation of a flowchart-based process mapping system designed by Shreya was a turning point. What began as a tool for one department within Umpqua evolved into a shared resource used across teams that spanned the entire corporation. “The division staff had a lot of information, but it was siloed and not being shared across the team,” Shreya said. “Their work was more reactionary than proactive, and everyone was overwhelmed by the complexity of the process, struggling to document in their procedure manual. I realized the core need was transparency—something that visualized the complex process in a simple diagram, and the whole team could understand and participate without feeling overwhelmed.” As workflows became clearer, the organization began addressing specific inefficiencies. Intake processes were streamlined, template documents were developed to reduce repetitive work, and timelines for each phase of the project were defined. “Developing a flowchart system was the right technical assistance solution because it created transparency, broke down information silos, and supported cross-team collaboration by giving everyone a shared view of how work actually moves through the department,” Shreya said. These system-level changes introduced by Shreya and the HAC team produced measurable results. Within a year of implementing these improvements, Umpqua CDC more than doubled its homeowner rehabilitation output, increasing from approximately 22–30 projects annually to over 56 completed projects, while serving roughly 70 households. This engagement demonstrates that capacity building within established organizations often requires rebuilding the systems that support day-to-day work. For Umpqua CDC, technical assistance helped move the organization from fragmented, siloed operations to a more integrated and scalable model. With durable systems now in place, the organization is better positioned to expand its homeowner rehabilitation work, adapt to new funding opportunities, and sustain its impact across rural Oregon.
Rory Doyle
The Carnation Milk plant in Tupelo, Mississippi, has sat vacant since 1972. In about a year, that will change when 33 low-income senior households move into new affordable homes in this old factory. This May, Old Historic Carnation, LP broke ground on Carnation Village, a $16.8 million adaptive reuse project to convert the abandoned factory into 33 units of affordable senior housing. These units are sorely needed in Tupelo, a high-poverty community which needs over 1,500 additional senior affordable housing units. With a $325,000 loan from The Housing Assistance Council (HAC)—and two sixth-month extensions to that loan—the developer successfully navigated a predevelopment process mired in construction cost increases and unexpected funding gaps. Here’s how:
The original project scope called for 50 units: 25 from an adaptive re-use of the plant itself and another 25 in a second building to be constructed next door. When our loan closed in July 2021, the project budget totaled about $12.7 million, to be funded by Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, and a $1.6 million investment. Our financing covered the predevelopment costs of the work required to get to construction financing closing including environmental testing, historic preservation approvals, tax credit application and reservation fees, a market study, and an appraisal.
So, MFA called the Housing Assistance Council (HAC). This wasn’t the first or second time that HAC helped MFA address challenges in its programs. In fact, HAC and MFA have a working relationship well over two decades old. Because of this extensive engagement, MFA Executive Director and CEO Izzy Hernandez knew he could rely on HAC Housing Consultant Eugene (Gene) Gonzalez to help find a solution to this challenge.
