Reforming Rental Housing Assistance Programs

• HUD’s rental housing assistance programs, which are administered through local public housing agencies (PHA) and property owners, help make housing affordable to almost 5 million low-income households.
• GAO and others have noted that HUD faces a number of challenges in managing and reforming these programs, such as implementing a new system for funding PHA operations, assessing PHA and property owner compliance with program requirements, budgeting for the expected costs of renewing rental assistance contracts, further reducing erroneous subsidy payments, and preserving the stock of assisted rental units.
• Meeting these multiple challenges will require sustained management attention and further improvements in HUD’s oversight capabilities.

^ Back to topWhat Needs to Be Done

• Provide adequate oversight of PHAs to ensure that public housing funds are used effectively

  Highlights of GAO-09-33 (PDF)

• Better estimate and monitor the amounts needed and available for project-based Section 8 housing and streamline and automate the contract renewal process for project-based housing to prevent processing errors and delays.

  Highlights of GAO-06-57 (PDF)

• Ensure that project-based Section 8 preservation efforts meet the needs of a changing housing market by re-examining unclear or administratively burdensome policies and procedures.

  Highlights of GAO-07-290 (PDF)

^ Back to topKey Reports

Rental Housing Assistance

Public Housing

Public Housing

Project-Based Rental Assistance

Project-Based Rental Assistance

HUD Rental Assistance

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