Rural Housing Service: Standardization of Budget Estimation Processes Needed for Rental Assistance Program

United States. General Accounting Office.

United States. General Accounting Office.

关键词: Government accountability -- United States.;    housing;    rural housing service;    letter report;   

RP-ID  :  GAO-04-424
RP-ID  :  241818

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Rural Housing Service's (RHS) Section 521 Rental Assistance Program provides rental subsidies to about 250,000 rural tenants. With an annual budget of over $700 million, the program is RHS's largest line-item appropriation, accounting for approximately 70 percent of the agency's budget. In early 2003, RHS reported hundreds of millions of dollars in unexpended balances, primarily tied to 5- and 20-year contracts issued from 1978 through 1982. Concern has arisen that these unexpended balances may be the result of the agency's budget practices, especially its procedures for estimating funding needs. GAO was asked to assess the accuracy of RHS's budget estimates for the rental assistance program, the activity level of rental assistance contracts issued from 1978 through 1997, and the activity level of rental assistance contracts issued from 1998 through 2002 and the accuracy of RHS's estimates of the rate at which these funds would be used."