Coronavirus Notice & Policy

The well-being and health of our residents, applicants, employees and partners remains our primary focus at the Cleveland Housing Authority (CHA).  We continue to monitor the quickly evolving news related to the coronavirus (COVID-19).  During this time, I wanted to update you on the actions we have taken in response to the pandemic.

CHA will continue to actively and effectively manage our business in response to COVID-19, with three key objectives in mind:

1. Keeping our residents, applicants, employees and their families safe.
2. Ensuring our business is operational to serve our residents.
3. Doing our part as a corporate citizen to contain the spread of the virus.

To promote a healthy work environment, CHA has instituted the following practices:

• We ask employees to practice good hygiene including frequent hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and disinfecting surfaces.
• We have canceled all employee travel for the next 30 days.
• We are requiring employees who feel sick to stay home until they are free of fever (100.4), signs of fever or other symptoms for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing or other symptom-altering medicines.  If an employee is diagnosed or lives with someone who is diagnosed with COVID-19, he/she must self-quarantine for 14 days as required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before returning to work.
• We are canceling all non-essential activities and meetings that would bring residents or the public into our offices and community spaces for the next 30 days.
• We encourage everyone to contact CHA staff by email or phone to schedule required in-person visits.
• We encourage residents to limit close contact with others during the next 30 days.

To protect staff and residents who interact daily, we have instituted the following:

• The lobbies of all CHA offices will be closed to the public as a reasonable measure to protect our employees, residents and applicants for the next 30 days.  Please contact the appropriate CHA staff by phone or email to schedule any necessary in person appointments.
• All payments will be received through the postal mail; this means no walk-in payments accepted.  Please contact the office for direction on how best to pay your rent.
• Any scheduled re-certification(s) will be conducted as scheduled.  Please call Stephanie prior to your arrival.  Any required paperwork will be accepted by postal mail only.
• All non-emergency inspections (HQS, UPCS and housekeeping) have been canceled for the next 30 days.
• Maintenance staff will only perform essential or emergency work orders (such as clogged plumbing, water leaks and health/safety related issues) for the next 30 days.  All other work orders will be deferred until further notice.
• Upon arrival at an apartment maintenance staff will:
  • Knock at the door and stand back 6 feet
  • Ask the resident if anyone in the unit is experiencing flu-like symptoms or has traveled to a high-risk area.  If any response indicates an illness with flu-like symptoms, the resident will be asked to go to another room while essential work orders are performed.   
  • Maintenance staff will wear personal protective equipment while in the unit and will sanitize surfaces prior to and after completing the work order.

We will continue to monitor evolving conditions about the virus using reputable sources such as the CDC, World Health Organization (WHO), State of Tennessee, and local health department websites to ensure the actions we take are comprehensive and suitable.  We encourage you to use these sources for information on how to keep yourself and your family safe during this situation.

While we are always available by email/phone, we encourage you to check the CHA website for operational updates.  We appreciate the trust you place in us and look forward to continuing to serve our communities.

Sincerely,
Paul A. Dellinger, Executive Director