Rebuilding the Research Capacity at HUD (2008) / Chapter Skim
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8 Dissemination
8 Dissemination
Pages 139-148
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From page 139... ...
However, the committee did examine in some depth the clearinghouse, HUD USER, managed by the Research Utilization Division, which constitutes PD&R's primary information dissemination activity. The committee had available to it two fairly recent independent assessments, commissioned by PD&R, of various aspects of PD&R's product dissemination activities.
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From page 140... ...
In addition, issues typically contain a short article reporting on some quantitative internal research or program support activity. Recent issues include reports on the performance of government sponsored enterprises (GSEs)
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From page 141... ...
It found an upward trend in orders for the most popular reports over that period: They were mostly either the Urban Policy Reports issued biennially by HUD or publications on building technology.
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From page 142... ...
(PD&R was unable to track downloads by product or user before December 1999.) Documents based on PD&R data collection or analysis constituted a large share of these downloads; proposed and final rules for fair market rents alone accounted for more than a quarter, and the list of qualified census tracts for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)
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From page 143... ...
Among the research products, technology reports were the most frequently downloaded publications, with two manufactured housing construction guides and the Fair Housing Act design manual (concerning accessibility for handicapped individuals) at the top of the list; Creating Defensible Space remained popular 9 years after it was published.
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From page 144... ...
All the major housing assistance programs are in one alphabetical list, by title, under "Public and Assisted Housing." Once within that broad category, there is no easy way to find publications on a particular program. Indeed, there is only one topic for which the reports are listed by subtopic: "Housing Production and Technology" groups publications under eight headings. At the other extreme, the set of papers reporting on the GSEs' role in funding affordable mortgages, and other topics in housing finance, can be found only under the heading "Housing Finance Working Paper Series." The 18 publications are not listed individually.
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From page 145... ...
Most reports contain an executive summary, but this is seldom published separately from the full study, making it necessary to download a lengthy document to obtain a 10-20 page summary. It would be useful to provide access to executive summaries separately from reports.
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From page 146... ...
In particular, the committee believes that more can be done to identify the needs of various relevant external constituencies, package information in appropriately differentiated ways, and take advantage of new web-based technologies. The committee's effort to review samples of recent PD&R research strongly suggests that the office needs a well-designed and continually updated management information tracking system that describes its inhouse and external research.
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From page 147... ...
The HUD USER website is a valuable resource to both policy makers and the public, but its current configuration has neither kept pace with technical developments in web technology nor taken full advantage of current web capabilities for data dissemination and use. The committee does not include website designers among its membership, but we believe that it should not be hard to design a more user-friendly search function, and thus a more useful website.
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From page 148... ...
It should be possible to identify publications by author and subject (including individual HUD programs) more easily.
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