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Public and Assisted Housing: Linking Housing and Supportive Services to Promote Self-Sufficiency

RCED-92-142BR Published: Apr 01, 1992. Publicly Released: Apr 01, 1992.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reported on the implications of linking federal housing assistance to supportive services to promote economic self-sufficiency for lower-income families.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in the final program guidelines, should require PHA, as part of their annual reporting on program results, to indicate how many participants have relinquished housing assistance and what alternatives to assisted housing they have found, such as home ownership.
Closed – Implemented
In its final rules, HUD required that public housing agencies report on the "effectiveness of the (FSS) program in assisting families to achieve... self-sufficiency." The rules define self-sufficiency, in part, as no longer receiving HUD rental housing assistance.
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in the final program guidelines, should require PHA, in their annual reports, to provide information that would allow HUD to ascertain the effect of its prohibition against the use of motivation in selecting participants. The information should: (1) indicate the extent to which families have complied with the terms of their contracts and the reasons for compliance or noncompliance; and (2) include data indicating how the selection process affected PHA ability to obtain supportive services.
Closed – Not Implemented
HUD agreed to include the recommended reporting items in its final program regulation. In issuing its final regulations on May 27, 1993, HUD changed its policy to allow motivation to be used as a selection factor (24 CFR 905.3013(c), 962.203(c), and 58 FR 30864). This action makes the recommendation moot.
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in the final program guidelines, should require PHA to report the costs of administering the program and to provide detailed estimates of the costs required to operate a more effective program. Those costs could be used as a basis for the HUD revision of the reimbursement for program administrative costs for both the public housing and section 8 programs.
Closed – Not Implemented
In 1995, HUD and key authorizing Senate and House subcommittees drafted legislation that would substantially reform HUD rental assistance programs, including the repeal of the Family Self-Sufficiency program. Given this intent, further followup on this recommendation is not warranted.

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Topics

Administrative costsDisadvantaged personsEligibility criteriaFederal aid programsFederal legislationHousing programsLow income housingPublic assistance programsReporting requirementsPublic housing