Quality Assurance Division (QAD) - About Us

About Us

The responsibilities of the QAD, in support of its mission, are

• To act as advisor on all aspects of quality assurance for the voucher programs, including HA performance, cost containment, data integrity, and Departmental requirements;
• To conduct analytical reviews of HA operations to identify programmatic errors, outdated administrative policies and procedures, cost or financial management errors, and data integrity problems;
• To review statutory, regulatory and administrative policies associated with the programs to determine changes required to foster improved program performance, accountability, cost-effectiveness and greater service to the public;
• To develop and implement program corrective actions and improvements.

Current Projects Lists

At local housing agencies The QAD is or has conducted numerous Voucher Management System (VMS) reviews, Rent Reasonableness Reviews, and Disaster Voucher Program (DVP) reviews. The purpose of these reviews are as follows:

• VMS Reviews - The Housing Choice Voucher Program (HVCP) provides low-income families with assistance that helps them lease units in the private market. PHAs enter into contracts with landlords to make housing assistance payments on behalf of eligible families. To cover the costs of the program, HUD provides funds for these housing assistance payments and for fees to cover the costs of administering the program. Nationwide, the HCV program receives annual funding exceeding $15 billion, making it HUD's single largest program.
  
  Prior to VMS, PHAs provided estimates of the funds required to operate their programs to HUD at the beginning of their fiscal year, and were paid throughout the year on the basis of these estimates. At the end of the year, the PHAs prepared a reconciliation of the funds expended and/or earned with the funds received, and returned any excess payments to HUD. In May 2003, in response to Congressional concerns that HUD was recapturing more than $1 billion in excess funds from PHAs annually, and losing the use of the funds in the interim, HUD implemented VMS to assist in the HCV budgeting process, and to avoid HCV overpayments and recaptures.
  
  The Voucher Management System is the financial reporting system that collects, on a quarterly basis, month-by-month reports on the PHAs' leasing and expense data. VMS provides HUD with a central system to monitor PHA leasing and program costs. VMS data is used to determine or modify the amount of HCV funds provided to individual PHAs. For this reason, it is critically important that the data submitted to the VMS are timely, accurate and complete. The overall objective of the VMS review is to determine the accuracy of all of the data currently in VMS. and reconcile these data and associated costs with approved funding levels giving HUD better control over future budget formulations and requirements. Technical support will be given to improve reporting accuracy.
  
  
• Rent Reasonableness Reviews - PHAs are required to certify that rents approved for units assisted under the housing choice voucher program are reasonable in relation to rents for comparable unassisted units whenever new units are leased, when owners request rent increases, when HUD-published Fair Market Rents for the PHA's jurisdiction are reduced by 5 percent or more, or if directed by HUD (24 CFR 982.507). This process is commonly referred to as "rent reasonableness." The Rent Reasonableness review is part of HUD's overall Housing Choice Voucher HCV Program initiative to better ensure that (1) the system adopted for determining the reasonableness of program rents is in accordance with HUD's guidelines, (2) the system is used correctly in approving program rents, and (3) participant files are properly documented.
  
  
• Disaster Voucher Program (DVP) Reviews - On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit southeast Louisiana and the Louisiana/Mississippi state line. Less than 30 days later, on September 24th, Hurricane Rita came ashore along the Louisiana and southeast Texas coast. In response to the resulting mass evacuation & catastrophic loss of housing, HUD instituted the Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance Program (KDHAP). These disaster vouchers assisted all Katrina victims living in HUD assisted housing at the time of the storm (including multi-family properties, public housing, & homeless persons). HUD quickly developed a web-based system. Over the succeeding 4 months, approximately 9,100 KDHAP Vouchers were issued by PHAs.
  
  The KDHAP system, referred to as PIC TEST, was intended to be used as a funding/billing tool for the KDHAP vouchers. Actual disbursements were made through HUDCAPS and generated by the FMC. Funding was not provided from HCV allotments, but rather "Supplemental" funds. The law which provided these funds expressly permitted the waiver of income eligibility & tenant contribution requirement for a specific period of time. Neither HUD nor the PHA's had ever responded to a disaster of this scale, and the volume of disaster housing needed. This, combined with the need for an immediate response, created a certain degree of chaos.
  
  The KDHAP Program terminated on January 31, 2006, and was replaced by the Disaster Voucher Program (DVP), effective February 1, 2006. DVP expanded the universe of eligible tenants by including both the HUD-assisted victims of Hurricane Katrina & Rita. DVP was structured similarly to the KDHAP program, and PIC TEST, renamed DVP, continued to be the billing vehicle for disbursements.
  
  During the summer of 2006, KDHAP reviews were conducted at the PHAs which received the bulk of KDHAP funding. The purpose of these reviews was to reconcile KDHAP disbursements (via PIC TEST) with PHA reported expenses in VMS. The total billed in PIC TEST was considered the maximum amount of funding the PHA was entitled to. A number of problems were identified by these reviews and subsequent program settlements became complicated and remain ongoing.
  
  In an effort to avoid similar problems when DVP terminates sometime in 2009, the Financial Management Division (FMD) has requested QAD begin DVP reviews. The intent of these reviews is once again to ensure data in the two systems is reconciled to the extent possible. The PIC TEST/DVP system also contains the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP) data, and has been renamed Disaster Information System (DIS). PIC TEST/DVP will be referred to as DIS from this point forward.
  
  The purpose of the DVP validation reviews is to determine the accuracy of DVP leasing and cost data resident in DIS and currently reported in VMS. Technical support will be given to improve reporting accuracy. Resulting reports will generally be informal in nature and provide guidance to improve reporting, correct errors, and summarize technical assistance provided during the review. Subsequent assistance and/or visits to the PHA may be scheduled based on the outcome of the review.