Over the past 2 years, the Department of Housing (DOH) in the State of Connecticut has been making many process improvements, including 19 lean events and 3 joint events outside of their agency.

One of the joint lean events was focused on the closing and financing process for construction of multifamily homes that primarily serve low-income residents.

Previously, they had two paper-based closing processes, and they have now consolidated it into one digital closing process that serves both agencies (DOH and Connecticut Housing Finance Authority). This has reduced the time for those working on these projects, and reduced the review time for both agencies (one review instead of two).

They also made improvements to the legal documents, to reduce the size, quantity and details required to make it shorter and less complicated. This eliminated an entire review step of the process. They were also able to reduce attorney costs for each project down to one attorney, saving money for taxpayers, and making it easier for both the attorney and customer (less people involved).

This all resulted in 50% reduction in the number of closings and hours that customers had to attend, and 50% reduction in process steps for both agencies.

You can watch the 8-minute video called “2016 Lean Showcase – Department of Housing” at https://www.gembaacademy.com/guests/state-of-connecticut