For the fifth year in a row, the Santa Ana Housing Authority (SAHA) will be certified as a High Performing Housing Authority by United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Under the Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP), HUD uses fourteen indicators to monitor and evaluate the performance of housing authorities nationwide. SEMAP is based on self-auditing that is subject to an onsite confirmatory review/audit by HUD. Indicator # 1 measures if housing authorities are administering Waiting Lists correctly and pulling off applicants from the Waiting Lists in the correct order. Indicator # 3 measures if casework is being completed accurately, correctly, and in compliance with the regulations like calculating the housing assistance amounts for each family correctly. Indicator # 5 measures whether or not housing authorities are conducting inspections completely, correctly, and in compliance with the regulations. Indicator # 13 measures the utilization of all funding received from HUD on an annual basis. The eleven other performance indicators cover the other areas of the program (annual re-examinations, reasonable rent, annual utility allowance schedules, inspection enforcement activities, etc.).
In July 2015, SAHA implemented an Quality Control Program that exceeds the minimum self-auditing requirements for SEMAP. Under this Quality Control Program, SAHA was able to audit randomly selected files and inspections on a monthly basis and provide this information back to their staff with continuous guidance and training. For SEMAP Indicator # 3, SAHA audited ten (10) times as many files as required by HUD for this fiscal year. A total of 372 randomly selected files were audited even though the minimum number of files to be sampled based on HUD’s regulations is only 35. Each file was randomly selected using an unbiased, documented method, and audited using the same auditing tool used by HUD auditors.
Indicator # 5 measures if housing inspections are being done completely, correctly, and in compliance with the regulations. SAHA audited twice as many inspections as required by HUD for this fiscal year; 69 randomly selected inspections were audited even though the minimum number of audited inspections is 34. The SAHA team went further and made a determination whether or not the original inspection was correct and complete, and provided this information back to their staff in order to improve the quality and integrity of inspections, both required by HUD.
SAHA audited more randomly selected files and inspections than required by HUD for SEMAP indicators #3 and #5 because those two indicators have biggest impact on their program administration and customer service.
As a result of their continuous efforts of ensuring the quality and integrity of casework and inspections while fully utilizing funding from HUD, the Santa Ana Housing Authority will be certified as a High-Performing Housing Authority again this year.