This meets subgoals 5A and 5B. As the sole Program Assistant for a staff of almost 20, processing reserve for replacement and residual receipts requests accounts for at least half of my workload. It also accounts for a lot of the Project Managers' workloads because they have to sign and review each request, contact projects when requests are incomplete, inform projects that there balance is too low, answer questions about why certain items are ineligible, etc. Many of our projects need to submit more than one request per quarter because of cash flow issues, requests for reasonable accommodations, and unexpected emergency repairs. From the beginning of FY 2010 until now, our Program Center has received over 400 Residual Receipt and Reserve for Replacement requests. That equals more than one request every single business day. They are time consuming because the Program Assistant has to receive the request, sometimes print it out, review the request for duplicates and ineligible items, transfer the request to the Project Manager, respond to inquiries about the status of the request, fax, email or mail the request, sometimes reprioritize workloads to expedite urgent requests, and then finally enter the completed request into iREMS. Creating a Reserve Specialist position for someone with an accounting type background, would decrease the processing timeframe, allow projects to work with a specialist to ensure that they prepare accurate requests, to identify and manage potential risks, and would enable Program Assistants and Project Managers to devote more time and attention to better serve other important needs of customers. Some of our projects have a Reserve Specialist on staff.

On page 16 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Audit Report Number 2007-LA-0001 (November 8, 2006), its states:
“State agencies are not required to track or report specific, uniform cost or performance data that could be used to compare and contrast the program’s effectiveness, and no other federal agency is responsible for collecting such information. Finally, the tax credit industry has not developed its own comprehensive data source.”

If it is not already being done, the Department of the Treasury, HUD, and the States, should consider the establishment of a committee to discuss and explore ways to synchronize its data collection efforts in such of a medium like the Real Estate Assessment Center’s (REAC’s) Web Access Security Subsystem (WASS). The committee should discuss and explore ways to establish as much uniformity as possible regarding specific data elements that are captured with respect to rental assistance, such as information related to tenants, information related to projects, etc. Utilizing industry practices within its multifamily programs, HUD has been doing this for its public housing rental assistance programs within the past five years. Such actions will probably enhance HUD’s ability to enforce required conversions of public housing to tenant-based assistance or project-based assistance, encourage voluntary conversions of public housing to tenant-based assistance or project-based assistance, support mixed-finance projects, etc. Furthermore, such actions will probably enhance the assessments of rental assistance programs and enhance reporting the results of such assessments through mediums such as ExpectMore.gov (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/expectmore/). Such actions will probably assist HUD in preserving, enhancing, and transforming rental assistance because a relationship does exist between HUD’s rental assistance programs and the States’ rental assistance programs. Considering the dire long-term fiscal outlook for the Federal government, the State governments, and the local governments, such actions are probably warranted.