Camden Housing Authority has fourteen (14) developments consisting of housing units scattered over the City of Camden. Due to the amount of grounds that have to be kept up we have a policy to hire residents to "pick up trash" rather than use a maintenance man who has more important duties. We have established a labor rate with HUD which is below the normal wage rate published by HUD for maintenance workers. These residents work in all areas usually two to four hours per day depending on the size of their area and amount of trash to remove. Not only does this give them an income to base rent on, it also helps our mowing crew by having all objects removed that could harm the mower or anyone standing nearby.

We also use residents to clean apartments after a move-out; they clean all appliances and bathroom fixtures and anything else a maintenance man requires. This speeds up turnover of apartments and keeps cost of makeover lower as we are not paying maintenance wages.

Any resident who works for us must pass a drug test and is randomly tested along with the rest of our staff as long as they are working for us. This program has been very successful in reducing cost in maintenance, speeding up turnover time, and helping residents to gain employment.