This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-10-1022R entitled 'Recovery Act: Survey of State Housing Finance Agencies' Use of the Low-income Housing Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP) and the Section 1602 Program' which was released on September 20, 2010. This text file was formatted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to be accessible to users with visual impairments, as part of a longer term project to improve GAO products' accessibility. Every attempt has been made to maintain the structural and data integrity of the original printed product. Accessibility features, such as text descriptions of tables, consecutively numbered footnotes placed at the end of the file, and the text of agency comment letters, are provided but may not exactly duplicate the presentation or format of the printed version. The portable document format (PDF) file is an exact electronic replica of the printed version. We welcome your feedback. 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GAO-10-1022R: United States Government Accountability Office: Washington, DC 29=0548: September 20, 2010: The Honorable Robert Menendez: Chair: The Honorable David Vitter: Ranking Member: Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development: Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: United States Senate: The Honorable Maxine Waters: Chair: The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito: Ranking Member: Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity: Committee on Financial Services: House of Representatives: Subject: Recovery Act: Survey of State Housing Finance Agencies' Use of the Low-income Housing Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP) and the Section 1602 Program: In February 2009, Congress created two new programs as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: (1) the Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP) administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and (2) the Grants to States for Low- income Housing Projects in Lieu of Low-inome Housing Credits Program under Section 1602 of the Recovery Act (Section 1602 Program) administered by the Department of Treasury (Treasury). Congress created these new programs to address the lack of private investment capital in Low-income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects after the credit market was disrupted in 2008. Both programs were intended to provide gap financing for stalled, "shovel-ready" projects and to offset a drop in tax credit demand and pricing. Under these programs, state Housing Finance Agencies (HFA) administer federal funds in the form of grants and loans from HUD and Treasury to fill financing gaps in planned tax credit projects. As part of our work examining how federal agencies and HFAs are implementing TCAP and the Section 1602 Program, we developed a Web- based survey for HFA managers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Our survey asked about the status of program delivery, program design, safeguards and controls, expected results, and challenges to implementation. We distributed our survey in November and early December 2009 and received usable responses from all 54 agencies. We designed and tested the self-administered questionnaire in consultation with experts, representatives of housing finance stakeholders, and state agency managers. While all state agencies returned questionnaires, and thus our data are not subject to sampling or overall nonresponse error, the practical difficulties of conducting any survey may introduce other errors in our findings. We took steps to minimize errors of measurement, question-specific nonresponse, and data processing. In addition to the minimizing errors as described above and pretesting the questionnaire with four state agency officials before the survey, we also: * contacted each agency before the survey to determine whether our originally identified respondent was the most appropriate and knowledgeable person to answer our questions, and made changes to our contact list as necessary; * resolved respondent difficulties in answering our questions during the survey; and: * recontacted selected respondents to follow up on answers that were missing or that required clarification. Finally, we independently verified analysis programs and other data analyses. We first reported results of our survey in our May 2010 Recovery Act report, where we described HFA progress and challenges in implementing TCAP and the Section 1602 Program and the programs' impact on the LIHTC market.[Footnote 1] In our September 2010 Recovery Act report we describe oversight activities planned by HFAs for TCAP and Section 1602 Program projects (GAO-10-999). In addition to data on these issues, we collected other information about TCAP and the Section 1602 Program that can inform Congress, HUD and Treasury, HFAs, and industry stakeholders about overseeing the programs. To link to the e- supplement that shows the survey questions and summarizes the responses by question, click on GAO-10-1023SP. We are sending copies of this report to HUD, Treasury, and other interested parties. In addition, this report will be available at no charge on GAO's Web site at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov]. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me at (202) 512-8678 or sciremj@gao.gov. Key contributors to this report include Andy Finkel (Assistant Director), Roberto Pinero, Jennifer Alpha, Swati Thomas, Heather Chartier, and Carl Ramirez. Signed by: Mathew J. Scire: Director, Financial Markets and Community Investment: [End of section] Footnotes: [1] See GAO, Recovery Act: States' and Localities' Uses of Funds and Actions Needed to Address Implementation Challenges and Bolster Accountability, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-604] (Washington, D.C.: May 26, 2010), 138-163. [End of section] GAO's Mission: The Government Accountability Office, the audit, evaluation and investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of the federal government for the American people. 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