HUD Inspections
Steps Needed to Address Uncertainty in Inspection Scores Gao ID: GAO-01-109 November 8, 2000The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) created the Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) to conduct physical inspections of HUD's public and multifamily housing properties to determine whether the properties are safe, decent, and in good repair. Although REAC uses sampling to select units and buildings for inspection, it did not, at the time of GAO's review, routinely calculate the sampling error associated with the physical condition score assigned to each property. Under REAC's sampling procedure, buildings and units do not always have the same chance of being included in the inspection sample. REAC officials told GAO that they were introducing new sampling procedures that would nearly equalize the chance that each property's dwelling units would be selected. The actions that HUD is proposing should address that. GAO's concerns about HUD's sampling procedures.