Fiscal year 2000 was the first year that public housing agencies were  required to submit a five-year plan and an annual plan. The remaining 13 manage low-rent units only or  a combination of low-rent and tenant-based Section 8 units. Field Locations Believe Agencies Can Implement Their Plans but Are Having Some Problems

About 72 percent of respondents believed that, for the most part, housing  agencies can implement the plans they developed, submitted, and had  approved. The public housing agencies we visited held varying views on the  usefulness of the fiscal year 2000 process. Although the amount and type of resources that agencies devoted to the  plan process for fiscal year 2000 varied, seven of the eight public housing  agencies we visited told us they used additional staff or resources in  developing their fiscal year 2000 plans. Agencies also had mixed experiences with the resident participation  requirement for the fiscal year 2000 plan. Scope and Methodology

The mandate in Section 511 of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility  Act of 1998 required that we review and audit a representative sample of  the nation’s housing agencies that are required to submit agency plans. We also agreed that a survey of HUD field  locations to assess HUD’s management of the fiscal year 2000 agency plan  process would serve as a proxy to auditing the universe of housing  agencies, as each HUD field location has direct knowledge of all housing  agencies within its respective jurisdiction and was responsible for  reviewing and approving those agencies’ plans. resident participation requirement.
What GAO Found

The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 was designed to improve the quality of public housing and the lives of its residents. Since fiscal year 2000, housing agencies managing low-rent or tenant-based Section 8 units have been required to develop and submit five-year and annual plans. As of January 2002, 98 percent of public housing agency plans for fiscal year 2000 had been submitted and approved. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had mixed views about the fiscal year 2000 plan process and its value. The field locations that responded to GAO's survey reported that their review of fiscal year 2000 plans was hampered by several factors, including difficulty in transmitting data between public housing agencies and HUD. Most field locations responded that public housing agencies are implementing their plans but acknowledged that there may be some problems, particularly in fulfilling requirements related to resident participation in the process. The eight public housing agencies GAO visited had differing views on the usefulness of the planning process, the level of resources required to prepare the plans, the sufficiency of HUD's guidance on completing the plans, and the difficulty of meeting the resident participation requirement.