NAHRO Releases HUD Salary Search Tool

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials – the nation's oldest and largest professional membership organization serving public housing professionals – today released a searchable online database providing salary information for every employee of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) whose annual base salary exceeds $100,000.  According to this data – obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and current as of June 2011– there were more HUD employees nationwide who earned more than $100,000 in base salary last year (4,241) than there are public housing authorities (PHAs) currently administering federal public housing and/or Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher programs (4,071).

NAHRO's HUD Salary Search Tool is available online at http://www.nahro.org/hud-search.

Highlights of NAHRO's analysis of HUD salary data:

• The 4,241 HUD employees who were earning more than $100,000 in base salary as of June 2011 represented approximately 45 percent of the 9,384.5 full-time equivalent employees on HUD's payroll for the federal fiscal year that ended September 30, 2011, according to an analysis of HUD's fiscal year 2013 budget justifications as submitted to the Congress.
• In 2011, HUD collected compensation information for the top five highest compensated employees of 3,613 PHAs. According to information recently released by HUD, only 3 percent of PHA executives earned $155,500 or more in total cash compensation (including bonuses) in 2010. By way of comparison, 363 HUD employees received base salaries (excluding bonuses) of at least $155,500 in 2011, a total that represented approximately 4 percent of HUD's entire workforce at the time.
• According to HUD, only 7 percent of PHA executive directors earned $125,000 or more in total cash compensation (including bonuses) in 2010.  By way of comparison, 1,640 HUD employees earned at least $125,000 in base salary (excluding bonuses) last year, a total that represented approximately 17 percent of HUD's entire workforce at the time.

In 2011, HUD declared its intent to require that all PHAs report salary information for their top five compensated employees, a requirement which HUD does not impose on any of its other funding recipients.  In addition to responding HUD notices announcing its plan to institute mandatory reporting, NAHRO submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for "the names, titles, and compensation levels of all HUD employees, including political appointees, whose compensation levels, exclusive of health, retirement and other fringe benefits, exceed $100,000 per year, together with the annual value of health, retirement and other fringe benefits provided to such persons."

HUD responded to NAHRO's FOIA request by providing a listing of all employees with base salaries of $100,000 or more, along with their titles and locations. The information provided by HUD includes only base rates of pay; HUD declined to provide information on the value of individual benefits packages, claiming that "each employee chooses their benefits package on an individual basis" and that to "construct a profile for each employee would require a record to be created for each person listed" and "cause an undue hardship on the Department" as defined under previous FOIA-related court rulings.  (HUD requires PHAs to submit compensation information beyond base salaries.  For their five highest compensated employees, PHAs must also report additional forms of compensation such as amounts paid to an employee's health insurance provider, retirement plan, the Social Security Trust fund, and Medicare, and even amounts paid by the employee, including health care premiums and IRA contributions.)

All data received in response to NAHRO's FOIA request may be accessed through NAHRO's HUD Salary Search Tool. The data is searchable by last name*, state, HUD Region, HUD office, or any combination thereof.  Data provided is current as of June 2011.  NAHRO intends to request this information and update the database on an annual basis.

*Although users may search by an employee's last name, for privacy purposes last names are not visible in the displayed search results. 

Housing Authority Facts:

• 3,148 housing authorities own federally subsidized public housing. 1,512 of these agencies also administer the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, while another 923 housing authorities administer Section 8 voucher programs but do not own public housing units. (PHAs that operate a Housing Choice Voucher program only and receive less than 50 percent of their funding for employees from HUD were previously exempted from mandatory compensation reporting, although HUD requested that these PHAs submit the compensation information.)
• In total, housing authorities own and administer approximately 1.2 million units of public housing, serving over 2.1 million people. 
• Through their administration of the Housing Choice Voucher program, housing authorities serve an additional 1.9 million households, providing housing assistance for over 4.6 million people. 

About NAHRO:

Based in Washington, DC, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials is a professional membership organization comprising approximately 23,000 housing and community development agencies and officials throughout the United States who administer a variety of affordable housing and community development programs at the local level.  NAHRO members own or administer nearly 1 million units of public housing (a vast majority of the nation's inventory), 1.65 million units of tenant-based Section 8 housing, and over 700,000 units of other assisted housing. In all, NAHRO's members provide housing for more than 7.9 million low-income people.

Contact:
Katy Gorman, Public Affairs
[email protected]
202-580-7223

SOURCE National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials