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CASE
STUDY
Industry:
Mortgage Banking
Client: Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD)
Service Offering: COOP
Real
Estate Assessment Center (REAC) Tenant Assessment
Sub System (TASS)
UD/REAC
Operating Environment
REAC was created
to restore the public confidence and trust in
HUD, as well as, provide a new level of management
capability and quality oversight to HUD’s
housing programs. Central to restoring this
trust is ensuring that the various assistance
programs serve only eligible households and
with the correct level of rental assistance.
Over 40 million families across the United States
and Puerto Rico benefit from various forms of
rental assistance provided by HUD. To assist
in the process of verifying and re-verifying
tenant eligibility for rental assistance, REAC
developed TASS to conduct large scale computer
matching and assist Public Housing Agencies
(PHAs) in the verification of incomes for residents
of public housing.
How does
the TASS process work?
- The process
starts when an applicant accepts housing
assistance from HUD. Income and other pertinent
data about the person and/or family is collected
by the PHA and transmitted to HUD. This
information is then stored in the Multifamily
Tenant Characteristics (MTCS). The information
is updated annually for each tenant or family.
- The income
related information is then transferred
to TASS – which then submits tenant-identifiers
to the IRS and the Social Security Administration
(SSA).
- In turn,
Federal tax data is received from both the
IRS and SSA.
- TASS then
matches the Federal Tax data with data in
its tenant income database. Discrepancies
at various household and individual thresholds
are then identified.
- The computer
matching income verification process allows
PHAs to perform the following:
- Increase
the availability of assistance to individuals
and families who meet eligibility requirements.
- Identify
and recoup excess rental assiatance
received by tenant(s) who misreported
income
- Defer
future abuses of HUD’s assistance
programs
PHA’s in
the resolution process must comply not only
with HUD directives, but also with State and
Local laws
What
was the added-value provided by IES to the TASS
process?
TASS benefited
from IES’s track record for developing
and implementing defensible program directives
and alternatives for several other HUD and MOBIS
related programs. In addition, IES staff have
the requisite computer and analysis skills to
manage and enhance TASS operations.
Specifically,
the value-added brought to TASS by IES includes:
- Our experience
managing databases and developing queries
to conduct record matches with separate data
sets
- Our ability
to manage and monitor program compliance with
Federal, State, and local laws and internal
operating policies and procedures
- Our expertise
and research and analysis of industry best
practices.
- Our proven
skills related to delivering presentations
to diverse audiences and stakeholders
- Our extensive
experience conducting organizational needs
assessments that lead to internal business
process improvements
- Our policy
analysis capabilities and knowledge of public
housing and other assisted housing programs.
Long-term
benefits provided to REAC/TASS by the IES Team
IES has made
major long lasting contributions to the processes
and methodology associated with many of the
ongoing functions of TASS, including but not
limited to:
- Strengthening
the integrity of the computer matching income
verification program
- Ensuring
that eligible residents receive correct subsidy
allowances
- Assisting
PHAs in the identification of correct tenant
annual incomes and subsidies.
- Evaluating
baseline and subsequent years’ reporting
results for future implementation or modification
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