The President's Management Agenda mandated HUD to reduce the number and dollar amount of errors by 50 percent, from 60 percent to 30 percent, by 2005.

The Department set aggressive interim goals in its FY 2003-FY 2008 Strategic Plan (pg. 45) of:

• A 15% reduction by FY 2003
• A 30% reduction by FY 2004

To achieve these goals, PIH implemented a comprehensive strategy to reduce errors. This strategy is already producing measurable results. Based on 2003 PD&R QC study results for the first half of FY 2003, HUD has exceeded its interim administrative error reduction goals, as reported in the Department's FY 2003 Performance and Accountability Report (Note 17).

The key components of this strategy include:

Upfront Income Verification (UIV)
Conducting upfront income verification to reduce the error rate in applicant/tenant income reporting and rent calculations. PIH has developed and begun testing a UIV System at 40 PHAs in 8 states.

Rental Integrity Monitoring (RIM)
Developing on-going quality control programs to determine whether and to what extent PHAs are accurately, thoroughly, and clearly determining family income and rent, for the purpose of reducing subsidy errors. Thus far, PIH has conducted over 700 RIM reviews at PHAs managing over 80 percent of PIH's funding.

Training and Technical Assistance
Providing training and technical assistance on occupancy issues—emphasizing income, rent, and subsidy calculations—to ensure error reduction and correct billings to the Department. PIH has provided occupancy training to Field Office staff and held two training sessions for PHAs in January and February of 2004.

Program Guidance
Issuing updated occupancy guidebooks and other materials to assist administrators of public housing and Section 8 programs. PIH released the first Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook in 20 years.

Error Measurement
Identifying and measuring the extent of various errors and error rates to develop effective corrective actions for discrepancy reduction.

Incentives and Sanctions
Developing incentives and sanctions to encourage error reduction in rent and income determinations and calculations. On December 19, 2003, PIH issued the Rental Integrity Monitoring (RIM) Disallowed Costs and Sanctions Notice (PIH 2003-34), which details relevant incentives and sanctions under RHIIP.

Program Simplification
Developing viable proposals and implementation plans for statutory, regulatory, and administrative streamlining and simplification.