2009 HUD Partners Surveys

OMB Approval No.: 2538-0116
Expires: 02/29/2012

HUD Survey of
Public Housing Agencies

This brief, confidential survey solicits your opinion—as a spokesperson for your agency—of the service being provided
to you by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Please answer the questions by placing an “x” in
the box of the response that comes closest to describing your experiences with HUD. If you deal with more than one HUD
program, office, or employee, please take all of your experiences into consideration when answering the questions.
Your responses will remain strictly confidential. Neither you nor your agency will be identified in reporting the survey
findings to HUD or anyone else. The survey is being conducted by Silber & Associates, an independent and non-partisan
research organization.
Please complete the questionnaire this week and return it in the enclosed envelope. If you need assistance, please
telephone Silber & Associates toll-free at 1-888-SILBER-1 (888-745-2371) or e-mail [email protected].

1.

How frequent have your agency’s contacts been with HUD during the past twelve months?
Very frequent (PLEASE GO TO Question 2)
Somewhat frequent (PLEASE GO TO Question 2)
Not very frequent (PLEASE GO TO Question 2)
None at all
Don’t know

On behalf of your agency, are you in a position to assess and comment on the
performance of HUD’s organization and programs?
Yes (CONTINUE)
No
Don’t Know

2.

PLEASE FORWARD TO APPROPRIATE PERSON, OR RETURN
QUESTIONNAIRE IF THERE IS NO SUCH PERSON

During the past twelve months has your agency had contact with:

Yes

No

Don’t Know

a. HUD personnel in HUD’s Washington DC Headquarters office
b. HUD personnel in one or more of HUD’s field offices
c. HUD personnel in a specialized HUD Center or Hub (such as Real Estate Assessment
Center, Section 8 Financial Management Center, Troubled Agency Recovery Center (TARC), Multifamily
Property Disposition Center, HUD Homeownership Centers, FHA Resource Center, HUD Center for FaithBased and Community Initiatives)

d. A contractor working for HUD (such as a Section 8 Performance Based Contract
Administrator)

3.

4.

HUD has several different responsibilities. On one hand, it provides various forms
of support (for example, funding, technical assistance, information) and, on the
other, it has a regulatory responsibility (that is, it makes rules, assures compliance
with those rules, makes assessments). In your agency’s relationship with HUD,
would you say HUD is mainly providing support to you, mainly regulating you, or
doing both about equally?

Thinking first about HUD programs with which you currently deal and then about
how HUD runs those programs, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you, in general, with:
a. The HUD programs you currently deal with
b. The way HUD currently runs those programs
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5.

Listed below are different ways to think about your relationship with HUD.
For each item, indicate your general level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction at the
present point in time. Check “Not Applicable” if the situation does not apply to your
agency (for example, if you do not currently receive information from HUD).
How satisfied or dissatisfied are you, in general, with…?
a.

The quality of the information you currently receive from HUD

b.

The timeliness of the information you currently receive from HUD

c.

The timeliness of decision-making by HUD (such as requests for waivers, rulings,

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and approvals)

d.

The quality of guidance you currently get from HUD

e.

The consistency of guidance you currently get from HUD

f.

The clarity of HUD rules and requirements that apply to your agency; in
other words, how easy they are to understand

g.

The responsiveness of the people with whom you currently deal at HUD

h.

The competence of the people with whom you currently deal at HUD

i.

The extent to which HUD employees have the knowledge, skills, and ability
to do their work

j.

Your ability to reach the people at HUD whom you need to contact

k.

The time commitment needed to comply with HUD reporting requirements
(such as those involving REAC or PIC)

6.

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Below are changes that occurred at HUD over the last decade. Have they made
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HUD better or worse, or have they not had much effect?
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a. Organizational changes, such as consolidation of previously
on
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independent offices under other offices [like the Real Estate Assessment
Center (REAC) or establishment of the PIH Information Center (PIC)].

b. Outsourcing project-based Section 8 program monitoring through a
third-party entity such as a Performance Based Contract Administrator.
7.

HUD provides training and technical assistance through different methods. For
each method listed below, please indicate how useful or not useful you’ve found
it. Check “Have not used” if that applies.
a. HUD-sponsored conferences

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b. HUD-sponsored satellite broadcasts
c. HUD-sponsored training programs conducted by contractors
d. HUD’s Webpage
e. HUD’s Webcast training
f. HUD participation in panel discussions and training sessions set up by nonHUD groups
8.

HUD has increasingly relied on electronic transmission to communicate with its
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partners. Based on your experience in the past 12 months, please indicate how
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effective or ineffective each of the following has been as a tool for HUD to convey
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important information to you, such as notices and guidance. Check “Have not used”
a
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if HUD hasn’t communicated with you this way.
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a. HUD listserves (automated mailing lists of subscribers to which HUD sends e-mail
messages)

b. HUD’s Website postings
c. HUD’s E-mail (individual correspondence to or from a HUD employee)

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9.

How would you characterize relations between your agency and HUD today?

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11.

Over the last several years have relations between your agency and HUD gotten:

Indicate your level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with each of the following as it
relates to your agency. Check “Not Applicable” if the situation does not apply.
a.

HUD’s ability to accurately monitor income and rent policies through the
Rental Housing Integrity Improvement Project (RHIIP)

b.

The ability of HUD field office personnel to consistently and reliably interpret
policies and regulations that pertain to your agency’s grants and programs

c.

HUD's current capacity to collect and make available tenant (HUD-50058) data
and reports in the PIH Information Center (PIC) system (Consider such things as ease

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10.

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of use of the system, usefulness of reports, appropriateness of data collected, etc.)

d.

HUD’s current capacity to monitor and provide oversight of your agency’s
activities
e. The timeliness of financial information you receive from HUD
f.

The timeliness of funds disbursed by HUD for your agency

g. The quality of technical assistance and guidance you receive about PIC and
from REAC related to electronic transmission of information to HUD
h. The physical inspections performed by HUD’s REAC
i.

Electronic financial reporting to REAC

j. The Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS)
k.

The Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP)

l.

The quality of HUD support & technical assistance related to improving the
energy efficiency of housing supported by HUD programs
m. The Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system
n. The amount of support & technical assistance for implementing asset
management
o. The quality of support & technical assistance for implementing asset management
12.

What, if anything, can HUD do to improve the process for converting to asset management? (Please print.)

Check this box if you are not converting to asset management. ____________________________________________________

13.

What, if anything, can HUD do to improve the Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system? (Please print.)

Check this box if EIV is not applicable. ______________________________________________________________________

14.

Housing agencies may work with several HUD offices, hubs and centers for
various purposes. Are the different functions and responsibilities of these offices,
hubs and centers:

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15.

16.

17.

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Grants.gov (formerly eGrants) is intended to be a simple, unified electronic
storefront for interactions between grant applicants and Federal
agencies—providing information about grant opportunities and facilitating
grant applications. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with Grants.gov—
considering such things as ease of use, usefulness etc.? Check “Have not
used” if you haven’t used Grants.gov.

fie
tis

Consider HUD’s public communications, such as to Congress and the media,
about public housing agencies. Do those communications generally make it
much easier for you to accomplish your agency's objectives, somewhat easier,
somewhat harder, or much harder, or do they generally have no effect?

At present, taking everything into consideration, how satisfied or
dissatisfied are you with HUD’s overall performance?

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18. Please indicate the title/position of the person (or persons) who answered these questions:
Agency Director

Agency Deputy Director

Other Agency Senior Official

Other Agency Employee

Other:__________________________________________

19. Taking into account all the jobs in your employment history, how many years, in
total, have you interacted with HUD as part of your job?

t
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1
1

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4

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6

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7

–

9

s
ar
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10

e
or
m
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so
ar
e
y

20. Which field office or offices does your agency interact with on a regular basis? Mark all that apply.
REGION I
REGION II
REGION III

Bangor
Albany
Baltimore

Boston
Buffalo
Charleston

Burlington
Camden
Philadelphia

Hartford
Newark
Pittsburgh

Manchester
New York
Richmond

REGION IV

Atlanta
Knoxville

Birmingham
Louisville

Columbia
Memphis

Greensboro
Miami

REGION V

Chicago

REGION VI

Albuquerque

REGION VII
REGION VIII
REGION IX

Des Moines
Casper
Fresno
Anchorage

Cleveland
Indianapolis
Ft. Worth
Okla.City
Omaha
Fargo
Las Vegas
San Diego
Portland

Columbus
Milwaukee
Houston
San Antonio
St. Louis
Helena
Los Angeles

REGION X

Cincinnati
Grnd. Rapids
Dallas
New Orleans
Kansas City
Denver
Honolulu
Sacramento
Boise

Jackson
Nashville
San Juan
Detroit
Minneapolis
Little Rock
Shreveport

San Francisco

Seattle

Salt Lk. City
Phoenix
Santa Ana
Spokane

Providence
Syracuse
Wash., D. C.
Wilmington
Jacksonville
Orlando
Tampa
Flint
Springfield
Lubbock
Tulsa
Sioux Falls
Reno
Tucson

We welcome and appreciate any comments you may have about HUD. PLEASE PRINT. Use extra paper if needed.
PLEASE DO NOT IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR ANYONE ELSE BY NAME.

Thank You for Completing the HUD Survey of Community Development Departments.
Please return your completed questionnaire to:
HUD SURVEY, c/o Silber & Associates, P.O. Box 651, Clarksville, MD 21029-0651. A prepaid envelope is enclosed for your convenience.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SURVEY?

CALL: 1-888-SILBER-1

4

FAX: 1-410-531-3100

E-MAIL: [email protected]