Seattle– The King County Housing Authority has scored a 93.1 in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual review of public housing. With its high score, KCHA earned "high performer " status for the tenth year in a row.

KCHA’s high rating was remarkable, considering HUD introduced a considerably tougher set of standards for housing authorities this year. The new Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) includes HUD inspections of all public housing developments and a survey of residents, as well as an internal audit of Authority operations.

"We are very pleased to continue our unbroken record of maintaining high-performer status under HUD’s various evaluative systems," KCHA Executive Director Stephen Norman said. "Though our housing programs have continued to diversify to meet a range of needs, our public housing program is the heart and soul of our operation. This acknowledgement by HUD of the excellence of our public housing communities is a testament to the quality and hard work of both our staff and our residents."

The Housing Authority maintains more than 3,300 units of public housing scattered throughout 23 suburban cities and unincorporated King County. Many KCHA developments are small, consisting of 50 units or less and blend in seamlessly with their surrounding neighborhoods.

Under PHAS, achieving a high score was more difficult than it had been when HUD used the Public Housing Management Assessment Program (PHMAP) to evaluate public housing. PHMAP focused on a housing authority’s management operations. With PHAS, the federal agency evaluates 29 separate agency functions, from property management and maintenance to an authority’s financial systems and tenant satisfaction. The scoring involved a resident survey and extensive inspections of each of KCHA’s 49 public housing properties.

To earn a high performer designation, a public housing authority must achieve an overall score of 90 percent or higher. The King County Housing Authority has been designated a high performer ever since HUD began evaluating the country’s public housing in 1991. This assessment covered KCHA’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2000.

Over the past three years, King County Housing Authority has added approximately 969 units to its inventory and completed $14.3million of rehabilitation work on its public housing communities.

"I’m proud that we can provide such exceptional service to the most vulnerable households living in King County," said KCHA Chair Rick Bender. "The importance of the safety net that our public housing provides cannot be underestimated."

KCHA administers a range of quality affordable rental housing programs for residents of King County, as well as providing homeownership opportunities to lower-income working families. The Authority serves more than 13,000 households, including families, the elderly, disabled persons, and other special-needs households. About 3,350 of those households are in public housing units.