HUD Customer Satisfaction Report

Chapter 3 - Field Management

The continuing transformation of HUD into a right-side up, community-first agency has been well received by HUD's customers. HUD's field managers have successfully faced the challenge of providing quality customer service in an environment of organizatio nal and programmatic change and shrinking resources.

As the top management official in large geographical jurisdictions, each Secretary's Representative is responsible for developing and implementing a Customer Service Plan in his/her area. The State and Area Coordinators who head field offices of varying size and functions perform this responsibility for their offices. These officials collaborate closely with the Program Directors in their respective offices in developing various types of surveys and other outreach techniques to determine customer servic e needs, priorities and expectations. Feedback on customer satisfaction is obtained throughout the HUD field structure in a variety of ways.

Informal customer survey instruments have been used by some offices to assess customer satisfaction and to help identify areas of customer service in need of improvement. Some surveys have been mailed to a cross-section of HUD customers, while other survey instruments have been distributed to office visitors or attendees at various community and neighborhood meetings and housing and community development conferences. Meetings of broad-based Community Empowerment Teams, representative of the full spectrum of HUD's customers and intermediary agencies, are frequently used by Secretary's Representatives and Coordinators to gauge customer satisfaction. Nearly half of the HUD field offices have established a Home Page on the World Wide Web. This electronic medium provides an opportunity for customers to obtain information on HUD programs and services and to communicate customer service concerns.

Secretary's Representatives and State and Area Coordinators pursue a vigorous proactive outreach to State and local officials, community groups, non-profits, real estate and mortgage banking groups, homeless providers, tenant associations, and fair housin g organizations. This approach, frequently a cooperative multi-discipline effort with HUD program staff, results in establishment of partnerships to identify and address community issues. These ongoing working relationships with HUD's customers and clie nts in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors generate valuable customer satisfaction feedback. The level of satisfaction with HUD customers and clients has generally been favorable, with some variation among program areas and in different parts of t he country. The Program Offices, in coordination with Secretary's Representatives and State and Area Coordinators, continue to make concerted efforts to address customer satisfaction issues raised through the various mechanisms mentioned above.

Secretary's Representatives and State and Area Coordinators pursue a vigorous proactive outreach to state and local officials, community groups, non-profits, real estate and mortgage banking groups, homeless providers, tenant associations, and fa ir housing organizations.