District of Columbia Public Housing

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the performance standards for the District of Columbia's Department of Public and Assisted Housing (DPAH). GAO noted that: (1) although 6 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) 12 indicators could assist Congress in measuring DPAH performance, none of the indicators directly measures tenant satisfaction; (2) Congress should reevaluate the need for and usefulness of the indicators before it incorporates them in its fiscal year 1995 District of Columbia appropriation bill; (3) adding additional requirements to DPAH may be premature, since DPAH has been recommended for receivership; (4) DPAH management and operating processes are wasteful and inefficient; (5) DPAH and HUD have entered in a partnership and taken several steps to improve DPAH overall operation; (6) DPAH operations are overseen by a five-member board that includes the Mayor of the District of Columbia and HUD Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing; and (7) Congress should allow sufficient time for the partnership's initiatives to evolve and management improvements to take effect so that District public housing residents can be helped.