The King County Housing Authority received a score of 97.5 out of a possible 100 points in an evaluation of the physical condition of its public housing portfolio by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The rigorous evaluation is conducted by third-party inspectors and is intended to ensure that federally assisted families live in well-maintained, safe housing.

In Federal Way, the 80-unit Southridge House received 100 points.

The Housing Authority’s score places its portfolio among the best maintained public housing in the country. The average individual property Real Estate Assessment Center score nationally in 2014 was 82.6 points.

With the recent score, the Housing Authority maintains its overall “high performer” designation, the Department of Housing’s top performance rating for housing authorities. The department has named the Housing Authority a high-performing agency every year since it began evaluating public housing authorities in 1992.

The high quality of repairs and maintenance of the Housing Authority’s public housing was achieved despite the chronic underfunding of public housing over the past decade. Most recently, between 2012 and 2014, the Housing Authority received $2.96 million less in federal funding than the Department of Housing calculated was necessary to responsibly operate this housing.

Additional budget cuts recently approved by the U.S. House of Representatives for next year will pose additional challenges for assuring the safety of the approximately 4,200 people who depend on public housing for a home in King County. Approximately 8 percent of these residents are elderly, 29 percent are disabled and 28 percent are children, according to the King County Housing Authority.

“Budget and economic realities in recent years have forced federal, state and local agencies to find ways to do more with less,” said Department of Housing Northwest regional administrator Bill Block. “Thanks to the creativity of the King County Housing Authority’s staff as well as the regulatory flexibility we have provided it under Moving to Work program, the Authority has been able to maintain an outstanding record of preserving and improving the quality of its physical assets despite the considerable financial pressures. We congratulate them on a job well and creatively done.”

Moving to Work is a program that allows a handful of high-performing public housing authorities to test new approaches, outside of rigid Department of Housing rules, for operating its programs and assisting low-income families. With the administrative and regulatory flexibility afforded by Moving to Work, the Housing Authority has achieved operational efficiencies and cost reductions that have allowed it to make significant capital improvements to its public housing inventory. Without this flexibility, much of the Housing Authority’s portfolio would have been unable to meet basic quality standards.

“We are committed to providing the best possible housing for the residents and communities we serve.  This score reflects the hard work of the housing authority staff and the close partnership between residents and [the Housing Authority,]” said Doug Barnes, Housing Authority board chair. “We are especially proud that we have been able to sustain this level of excellence in the face of ongoing federal funding cutbacks. Were it not for our status as a Moving to Work agency, this feat would have been very difficult to accomplish.”

The Housing Authority owns and operates about 2,125 public housing units in King County. It owns or manages an additional 6,800 units of affordable housing and provides more than 11,600 households with rental assistance to enable them to rent housing from private landlords.