Scope of Activity

The Public and Indian Housing (PIH) staff is responsible for performing functions in accordance with legislation which authorizes the Department to enter into contracts to provide assistance for the development and operation of public and Indian housing, and to provide rental assistance payments on behalf of lower-income households. The principal legislative authorization for PIH activities is the U.S. Housing Act of 1937, as amended.

Fiscal year 1997 was the first full year of the new organizational structure in PIH. In late 1996, two new offices were established from the Office of Distressed and Troubled Housing Recovery (ODTHR): the Office of Troubled Agency Recovery (OTAR), and the Office of Public Housing Investment (PHI). The Office of Troubled Agency Recovery (TAR), implements the Presidential Performance Agreement strategy to reduce the number of distressed public housing units. Since the Office's inception, 38 recovery efforts involving small, medium, and large PHAs have been undertaken by OTAR. Staff is actively involved in hands-on recovery efforts at these troubled PHAs. The second Office, the Office of Public Housing Investment (PHI), continues to focus on HOPE VI funding activities, as well as homeownership and partnership initiatives.

The other significant change in the Headquarters organization was the establishment of a separate Office of Policy, Programs and Legislative Initiatives (OPPLI). This Office focuses on policy, program development, research and coordination of legislative/regulatory proposals. With the transfer of the policy and evaluation functions from the Office of Management and Policy (OMP), a new entity was created within OMP, the Technical Assistance and Planning Division, in order to focus attention on two areas that have required increased oversight. Specifically, the functions associated with developing and tracking performance measures, and developing and monitoring the PIH management plan, were combined with the existing OMP functions of procurement planning, tracking and guidance, and the strategic planning, use and oversight of the PIH Technical Assistance funds. As a result of these changes, OMP was renamed the Office of Management and Planning.

Beginning in fiscal year 1997, only a small Headquarters ONAP component remains in Washington to provide support on legislative, procurement, and administrative requirements. The management staff of ONAP relocated from Washington, DC to Denver, Colorado to accomplish the following:

• provide closer access to the Native American communities which are predominately concentrated west of the Mississippi River;

• centralize programmatic functions; and

• become more oriented to a "community-first" approach designed to enpower local decision-makers to plan and carry out local housing and community infrastructure activities.

Headquarters staff performs the following principal functions in support of PIH goals:

• develops program policies, procedures and guidelines for all PIH programs (PH Capital Fund, Housing Certificate Fund, Operating Fund, HOPE VI, Distressed/Troubled Agency Recovery, Drug Elimination Grants, Native American Housing Block Grants) including priorities for Public and Indian Housing involving crime reduction, resident management, homeownership, economic development and supportive services;

• directs and coordinates the administration of all PIH programs and provides training and technical assistance and procedural guidance to the HUD Field staff, PHAs, IHAs, and resident groups, as appropriate;

• monitors, reviews and evaluates Field program operations and reviews administrative practices of local agencies, including PHAs, IHAs, and resident groups to ensure that programs are managed efficiently and that services and assistance are provided as intended;

Salaries and Expenses, Housing and Urban Development

Budget Activity 1: Public and Indian Housing

• provides financial assistance for use by local agencies as well as program, administrative, management, statistical and budget support; and

• assigns program and administrative resources to State and Field Offices.

Field Employment

Previous realignment of the Field Offices gave Headquarters direct line supervision over the Field Office activities. All Field Office employees were reclassified from generalists to specialists, by functional area.

The Field Offices continue to report directly to Headquarters. As attrition has occurred over the last year, staff has not been replaced in the Field Offices. As a result, several offices either have insufficient, or no representation in one or more functional areas, while monitoring requirements and technical assistance needs are unchanged. The workload has remained constant with fewer employees to complete it.

In order to maintain an acceptable level of service, these offices are forming partnerships with other Public Housing offices to share workloads and ensure that Public Housing customer service and program implementation continues. Affected offices make arrangements to share information and coordinate activities with the PHA or residents by establishing a partnership.

The partnership is a formal arrangement entered into by the management of the participating offices and ratified by the Unions. It establishes formal work processing parameters and communication systems. It allows staff to comprehensively review workload requirements and ensure that all program requirements and processing deadlines are met.

Contracts

The following table identifies the contract activity and is followed by a brief synopsis of the types of contracts for which funds are requested in 1998.

The Office of Public and Indian Housing is pursuing contracting activities of the following nature with funds under this budget activity:

Management Studies/Technical Services. The contract funding for fiscal year 1998 will focus on the following areas: risk management training for PIH staff, underwriting services for the Indian Loan Guarantee program, negotiated rulemaking for the Office of Native American Programs and the Performance Funding System (PFS) successor rule, and an interagency agreement with the Immigration and Naturalization Service for verification inquiry services to housing authorities regarding noncitizen immigration status.

Public Information Services. These services are used to finance the cost of preparing and promulgating program information to PIH client groups in an effort to enhance effectiveness and promote participation in resident programs. Traditionally, PIH has funded its Clearinghouse services from this category. Clearinghouse activities became eligible for funding in fiscal year 1996 for technical assistance funding through the Modernization program. As a result, no estimate for Public Information Services is being provided for fiscal year 1997.

Salaries and Expenses, Housing and Urban Development

Budget Activity 1: Public and Indian Housing

Travel

The table below identifies travel requirements unique to the PIH organization.

a/ Excludes program funded travel.

b/ Includes ONAP Field travel.