Quality Control for Rental Assistance Subsidy Determination

Macro International Inc.

Headquarters

11785 Beltsville Drive

Calverton, MD 20705

Phone: 301-572-0200

Fax: 301-572-0999

www.orcmacro.com

Date

Addressee

Address

Dear Name:

ORC Macro is under contract with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to conduct a nation-wide study to measure the amount and sources of error associated with determinations of eligibility and tenant rent. The attached form(s) identifies the PHA and/or project(s) under your management selected to participate in this study. To begin this effort, we request that you:

• verify all of the identifying information at the top of the enclosed form(s),

• correct and discrepancies, and

• complete and return the form(s) in the enclosed envelope by date.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance for this study has been obtained, and the OMB clearance number is 2528-0203. The estimated burden for completing the enclosed Project Specific Information form is 15 minutes. The information obtained from this study will be reported as statistical summaries; however, individual information is shared with HUD headquarters.

Data collection is scheduled from January through May 2007. Our field interviewer will be contacting you near the end of January to obtain some preliminary information and schedule a date to begin data collection. The interviewer will make every effort to accommodate your schedule. We ask that you be as flexible as possible when our field interviewer contacts you to schedule a time to collect data.

While at your project, the filed interviewer will:

• select a sample of households,

• abstract data from selected tenant files,

• obtain photocopies of specific documents relating to tenant rents, and

• conduct in-home interviews with selected tenants.

PHA/Project Staff will be expected to:

• provide a list of all HUD-assisted households in each PHA and/or project listed on the enclosed attachment(s),

• make available files for selected tenants,

• provide assistance in contacting tenants,

• provide access to a photocopier and a Fax machine (if available),

• complete a Project Staff Questionnaire, and

• respond to all requests for additional data, both during and possibly after data collection.

The data collected during this study will be used to identify the most serous errors and target them for corrective action. It will also be used to meet Congressionally mandated reporting requirements related to the accuracy of subsidy determinations and financial statements. The importance of this study is emphasized by the ruling of the Department’s General Counsel that PHAs, projects, and households randomly selected for this study will be required to participate.

ORC Macro field interviewers will have some knowledge of HUD regulations, but their primary responsibilities are limited to data collection. Determination of error will be made by ORC Macro professional staff that have been working on these types of HUD studies for several years and have detailed knowledge of HUD requirements.

We recognize that this study places a burden on participants. We have made every attempt, however, to design data collection procedures that minimize this burden and not greatly disrupt office activities. It at any time during data collection you are concerned about our procedures or the conduct of our field interviewer, please call the ORC Macro Deputy Project Director, Dr. Sophia Zanakos. She can be reached at 301-572-0239 or through ORC Macro’s toll free number, 877-392-9776. Only if we hear about problems can we take action to correct them.

Our staff greatly appreciates your cooperation with this study.

Sincerely,

Mary K. Sistik

Project Director