To better balance monitoring, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) is updating its policies to visit all projects at various milestones during development. This due diligence can include projects at or near construction start at or around 50 percent completion and near issuance of Certificates of Occupancy. OHFA may complete additional visits based on concerns at any point during construction. To accomplish this, OHFA will monitor progress using onsite walkthrough visits, windshield/exterior visits or virtual visits that are live or recorded. Onsite visits may be scheduled or impromptu.

Scheduled visits: With these visits OHFA will reach out to the project team in advance to ensure there is appropriate staff on site, and when needed, request that 24-hour notice be provided to all residents. These visits can include walking around the site, reviewing progress visible from the interior and exterior, and often includes discussion while on site with the Site Supervisor or other staff with the General Contractor.

Impromptu visits: If time permits in a day, OHFA may stop at projects that are in the area of others being reviewed, with little or no notice. With these visits, OHFA will check in with the Site Supervisor or other staff on the project team (e.g., General Contactor or Management Company agent). The OHFA team member will provide their contact information upon arrival. These visits will be shorter in duration and will be limited to unoccupied units, common areas and exteriors.

Virtual visits: OHFA will reach out to the project team to set up a virtual meeting (e.g., Microsoft Teams or Zoom) to record a walkthrough of the site. A walkthrough video must cover all of the components, such as site features, dumpster (and enclosure), building exterior, interior of non-accessible and accessible units, common areas, such as a community building, breezeways, pathways, swimming pool, play area, etc. OHFA will determine if the virtual visit can be prerecorded or live. The person completing the visit should be knowledgeable in construction and have a good understanding of the project and the Scope of Work (SoW). The project team should ensure that there is appropriate network coverage for a virtual visit. The project team may be asked to provide additional documents (such as photographs) for any items that need further clarification.

OHFA reviews construction progress to ensure that OHFA requirements are met. OHFA may also note accessibility issues or observe code compliance, and OHFA may require the team to provide proof of compliance. Please note that it is not OHFA’s jurisdiction to perform code review; however, OHFA may observe findings and notify the project team.

Frequency: To determine the frequency and type of monitoring, OHFA utilizes the Quarterly Construction Monitoring reports (self-reporting), third-party reports and review of evidence (e.g., photos, work orders, invoices) of completion of OHFA requirements, draw meetings, pre-construction meetings and more.

As a reminder, all OHFA projects must self-report on progress via the Quarterly Construction Monitoring report starting with OHFA Board Approval or the start of construction. If OHFA does not receive or does not find the information provided in these reports or meetings satisfactory, this will likely increase the frequency of reviews.

Changes in Scope of Work (SOW): It continues to be OHFA’s policy that any changes in Scope of Work (SoW) must be submitted to OHFA for review in writing via email, and must be acknowledged and accepted by OHFA, in writing, which clearly states acceptance of the specific SoW item referenced.

For questions regarding these updates, construction progress or monitoring please contact constructionmonitoring@ohiohome.org.