![](media/image1.emf){width="0.7277777777777777in"
height="0.7069444444444445in"}1 Department of Housing and Urban
Development

Public and Indian Housing

Special Attention: Notice PIH 98-50 (HA)

Section 8 Public Housing Agencies Issued: October 6, 1998

Public Housing Office Directors; Expires: October 31, 1999

Troubled Agency Recovery Center Directors

Cross References:

Subject: Section 8 Management Assessment Program (SEMAP)

> Final Rule and Certification Form

**1. [Purpose]{.underline}.** This notice announces publication of the
Section 8 Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) final rule. The notice
transmits the rule and the SEMAP Certification, form HUD-52648.
Addressees and their staffs are encouraged to read the entire rule and
the preamble to the rule to become thoroughly familiar with its
contents. SEMAP is a new management assessment system that HUD will use
to measure annually the performance of all housing agencies (HAs) that
administer the Section 8 tenant-based rental assistance programs.

Under SEMAP, the Department will assess HA performance on

14 key indicators that show whether eligible families are helped to
afford decent rental units at a reasonable subsidy cost as intended by
Federal housing legislation and by Congress' appropriation of Federal
tax dollars for these programs. The systematic and comprehensive
approach of SEMAP will improve HUD's oversight of the Section 8
tenant-based rental assistance programs and will help HUD to target
monitoring and assistance to HA programs that need most improvement. HAs
can use the SEMAP indicators to assess the conformity of their program
operations with the key Section 8 tenant-based program requirements and
performance standards.

The SEMAP final rule and certification (form HUD-52648) can also be
obtained on the HUD web site at:

http://www.hud.gov/handbook.html

**2. [Effective Date]{.underline}.** The SEMAP final rule is effective

October 13, 1998, except for the sections that pertain to assignment of
ratings: 985.102 (SEMAP profile), 985.103 (SEMAP score and overall
performance rating), 985.105(a), 985.105(b), 985.105(d) and 985.105(e)
(HUD SEMAP responsibilities) and 985.107 (Required actions for HA with
troubled rating). The effective date of these sections is deferred until
further notice. Currently, the Department expects that the first ratings
under SEMAP will occur in calendar year 2000, for HAs whose fiscal year
ends December 31, 1999. HUD will publish a notice in the Federal
Register announcing the precise effective date of the rating sections of
the rule.

**3. [SEMAP Certification]{.underline}.** The performance standards
included in the final rule (section 985.3) take effect October 13, 1998,
and HAs must certify as to their program performance under these
standards within 60 calendar days after the first HA fiscal year end
that follows the effective date of the final rule (section 985.101). The
first HAs required to submit a SEMAP certification are those whose
fiscal year end is December 31, 1998.

Initially, the HA's submission of its SEMAP certification serves as a
first step toward full implementation of SEMAP. Importantly, it will
draw the attention of the executive director and the board to the new
rule. Until the rating sections of the rule take effect, the Department
will continue to depend on on-site management reviews to the extent they
are performed to assess program performance and compliance, and to
verify the accuracy of the HA's certification.

**4. [Field Office action]{.underline}.** Each Public Housing Office
Director must establish a tracking mechanism to ensure timely receipt of
SEMAP certifications from each HA within the field office jurisdiction
that administers Section 8 tenant-based assistance. If a field office
conducts a management review of an HA that administers the tenant-based
program, the field office should give particular attention to HA
performance under the SEMAP indicators.

**5. [Deferral of ratings under SEMAP]{.underline}.** The deferral of
ratings under SEMAP will give HAs one full year of program operation
under SEMAP before ratings are assigned. It will also permit HUD to
ensure that Multifamily Tenant Characteristics System (MTCS) data are
reliable and to issue auditor guidance which will help auditors
understand program requirements and consistently measure performance.
HUD will use MTCS data and the annual audit report to verify an HA's
performance under SEMAP as the basis for assigning SEMAP ratings.

HAs are encouraged to take advantage of the one-year deferral of ratings
to examine their program operations in the key areas measured by SEMAP
and to improve performance if necessary.

6.  **[Importance of complete and accurate reporting to
    MTCS]{.underline}.** HAs should take advantage of the time allowed
    by the deferral of SEMAP ratings to improve reporting to MTCS where
    that is necessary. Performance under six of the SEMAP indicators
    will be verified by data provided by the HA on the family report
    (form HUD-50058) to MTCS. To assign a rating other than zero for any

of the six indicators where performance is measured by MTCS data, the
Department will require an HA reporting rate to MTCS of

**[at least]{.underline}** 75 percent of its participants, and this
standard may be raised.

For MTCS to properly reflect an HA's performance under the SEMAP
indicators, it is vitally important that the HA transmit complete and
accurate data to MTCS. For example:

-   The effective date of action for a new admission must accurately
    reflect the beginning date of the assisted lease.

-   The effective date of action for a reexamination must accurately
    reflect the effective date of the tenant rent change as a result of
    the reexamination.

-   The date that a unit last passed HQS inspection and that a unit was
    last inspected must be accurately reported. Note that since the form
    HUD-50058 is transmitted only for an admission, reexamination,
    interim redetermination, portability move-in or other change of
    unit, the HQS inspection and pass dates must be the latest
    inspection and pass dates that occurred before (or on) the effective
    date of the action reported.

-   Any over-FMR tenancy or project-based certificate program tenancy
    must be properly reported on the family's record, or MTCS will
    erroneously include that record in the data analysis to determine if
    the initial gross rent exceeds the FMR.

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   An end participation record must be sent for a family that leaves
    the program, or that family's record will remain in MTCS, and MTCS
    will eventually erroneously reflect that family as late for
    reexamination.

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   If a family self-sufficiency program participant has an escrow
    account, the escrow account balance must be reported.

These examples are not an exhaustive list of form HUD-50058 data fields
that an HA must accurately report to properly reflect HA performance
under the SEMAP indicators, but they indicate the importance of complete
and accurate MTCS reporting for SEMAP.

**7. [Auditor guidance]{.underline}.** Auditor guidance for review of HA
compliance with SEMAP standards as part of the HA's single audit will be
incorporated into the April 1999 Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Circular A-133 Compliance Supplement. HUD Headquarters will make this
guidance available to field offices and HAs as soon as it is final.

**8. [Future guidance]{.underline}.** Before the rating sections of the
SEMAP rule take effect, HUD Headquarters will provide additional
guidance to HUD program centers, hubs and troubled agency recovery
centers, and to HAs, concerning the HUD review, rating and monitoring
processes for SEMAP.

/s/

Deborah Vincent

General Deputy Assistant Secretary

for Public and Indian Housing

Attachments