SHA's CEO, Dr. Michael C. Threatt, Launches Attract-Recruit-Retain Central Carolina Landlords Marketing Campaign

Attract-Recruit-Retain Central Carolina Landlords Marketing Campaign

Attract-Recruit-Retain Central Carolina Landlords' Incentives Flyer

Attract-Recruit-Retain Central Carolina Landlords for VASH Vouchers

SHA positions itself to secure new VASH administrative fees to power landlord incentives, strengthen veteran housing access, and deepen community partnerships.

SANFORD, NC, UNITED STATES, April 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Sanford Housing Authority (SHA) has launched the Attract-Recruit-Retain Central Carolina Landlords Marketing Campaign, a comprehensive, systems-based initiative designed to expand landlord participation in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program, also known as the Section 8 Program. This initiative will address the long-standing market barriers by rebuilding trust between the public housing authority (PHA) and private landlords.

The campaign is led by Dr. Michael C. Threatt, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SHA. It represents a paradigm shift in SHA's approach to landlords, financial incentives, and program delivery.

This initiative is based on SHA’s Landlord Incentives, Marketing, and Outreach Chapter in the HCV Program's Administrative Plan. Dr. Threatt understood that the best answers to landlord hesitation is the ability to offer incentives.

“We launched our Attract-Recruit-Retain Landlords Marketing Campaign to expand housing opportunities for HCV Program Participants. This will also allow us to improve our PHA-Landlord Partnerships.” — Dr. Michael C. Threatt, CEO of the Sanford Housing Authority (NC).

Resetting the Culture Around Landlord Incentives
When Dr. Threatt assumed leadership at SHA, he encountered a familiar yet limiting belief that persists across many PHAs: that landlord incentives were permissible only for Moving to Work (MTW) agencies or were temporary allowances available solely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That assumption is widespread across the affordable housing industry,” said Dr. Threatt. “It is also incorrect.”

As former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Dothan Housing Authority, an MTW Landlord Incentives Cohort #3 agency ranked in the top 4% nationally, Dr. Threatt personally wrote and implemented MTW landlord incentive applications and supplemental plans. Those efforts were rooted in a straightforward principle: landlords respond to communication, customer service, and financial incentives. Those lessons are not exclusive to MTW agencies but to landlord-friendly PHAs.

Following HUD’s 2022 expansion of allowable HCV administrative fee uses, all PHAs now have discretionary authority to implement landlord-focused incentives, including signing bonuses, damage mitigation payments, vacancy loss reimbursements, and tenant-related cost assistance, such as security deposits, application fees, and utility deposits.

Too often, PHAs, boards, and community stakeholders direct their frustration toward landlords’ reluctance to accept vouchers rather than toward building mutually beneficial landlord partnerships. At its core, the HCV Program is a real estate transaction that requires trust and collaboration between the PHA, the voucher participant, and the landlord.

Discovering Structural Gaps and Compliance Risk
During his first 90 days, Dr. Threatt quickly adopted a formal Landlord Incentives, Marketing, and Outreach chapter for the HCV Program's Administrative Plan, which was implemented in February 2025.

Later in April 2025, Dr. Threatt commissioned a comprehensive compliance assessment of the entire HCV Program by Encompliance Consulting, LLC.

“The compliance assessment revealed there were no centralized landlord files,” Dr. Threatt explained. “That immediately told me two things: we were exposed from a compliance standpoint, and we lacked the capacity to implement landlord recruitment and retention strategies to operate as business partners.”

At the time, landlord data and financial inputs were entered by program staff without independent verification, increasing the risk of errors and undermining internal controls. In response, Dr. Threatt implemented immediate checks and balances by reassigning key data-entry and financial-verification functions to the Finance Department to restore separation of duties and strengthen fiscal integrity.

Building a Dedicated Landlord Engagement Framework
One of Dr. Threatt’s first visible actions was intentionally simple: establishing a dedicated landlord email address and a single point-of-contact model. That decision marked the beginning of a broader landlord engagement platform that now includes:

• A designated landlord liaison role
• Formal landlord orientations and education sessions
• Direct deposit housing assistance payments
• A landlord portal through Reframe Assist housing software for inspections, payments, and 1099s
• Regular landlord newsletters and regulatory updates
• Outreach events targeting property managers, real estate investors, and small landlords

Crucially, this framework is paired with financial incentives, enabling SHA to attract and recruit new landlords, retain existing partners, and re-engage owners who previously exited the program.

Using Administrative Fees as Strategic Capital
HUD now permits administrative fees to support landlord incentive payments, tenant application fees, security and utility deposits, renters’ insurance, vacancy loss mitigation, and housing search assistance. SHA’s campaign leverages these flexibilities to reduce landlord risk and increase unit availability, particularly for families with children and veterans.

“Administrative fees are strategic capital,” he said. “When deployed intentionally, they unlock access to housing in markets where voucher participants can maximize the 'choice' in the program.”

The landlord marketing campaign also positions SHA to responsibly pursue additional Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) administrative fees, which provide enhanced funding for landlord incentives, tenant assistance, and staffing capacity focused on veteran housing placement. These additional funds will help VASH participants lease up faster.

From Policy to Market Presence
Known nationally as The Section 8 Landlord Coach^®, Dr. Threatt brings a rare, multi-faceted perspective to the initiative. He is a licensed REALTOR^®, former COO of an MTW Landlord Incentives Cohort #3 agency, a housing policy researcher, and the author of The Price of Bureaucracy, a book that examines institutional "red tape" challenges in the HCV Program and offers solutions from a scholar-practitioner's lived experience.

“I don’t market the Section 8 program from behind a desk,” Dr. Threatt said. “I meet landlords where they are.”

The campaign includes intentional presence at real estate association meetings, investor groups, and property management forums, where SHA representatives actively present the HCV program, explain incentives, and address landlord concerns directly. This approach recognizes that landlords are business owners first, and that trust is built through communication, customer service, responsiveness, and follow-through.

Looking Forward
Before concluding his tenure as CEO, Dr. Threatt made it a priority to launch SHA’s Attract-Recruit-Retain Central Carolina Landlords Marketing Campaign, ensuring the strategy expands housing options. This is a perfect time for the new landlord incentives, as the SHA prepares to implement the recommendations from its Public Housing Repositioning Study.

Dr. Threatt understands why landlord participation is essential to the HCV Program in his roles as the Legislative Chair and President-Elect of the Southeast Regional Section 8 Housing Association (SERSHA).

Karoll Kuri
Sanford Housing Authority
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