Public Housing

HUD Needs Better Information on Housing Agencies' Management Performance Gao ID: GAO-01-94 November 9, 2000

To improve its oversight of housing agencies, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) implemented its Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS). PHAS provides HUD with a system to measure the performance of its housing agencies. GAO found that the effectiveness of HUD's ability to measure housing agencies' performance under PHAS has not been greatly improved for several reasons. First, HUD does not verify the accuracy of self-certified data submitted by the agencies in response to PHAS requirements. According to GAO's survey, in several instances, agencies that certified themselves as "standard" or "high performers" were later found to be troubled. Second, HUD's field offices indicated that they are adequately prepared in some areas to assist troubled housing agencies but that in other areas, such as adequate staffing, they are not. Furthermore, HUD's experience indicated that although the use of sanctions against poor performing agencies can be an effective tool for improving performance, most of its field offices fail to use them.

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