REAC Guru - explanation continued . . .
So, why has HUD/REAC never published a clear guide to the Scoring System. so we can gain a sophisticated understanding of the system, and utilize it to achieve compliance according to the numbers?
There seem to be a number of reasons!
First and foremost, the scoring system is very complicated. It is virtually impossible to publish one universal guide to scoring that would apply to every property. The scoring system depends on many inter-related variable values. There is a staggering number of permutations of how the various elements of properties can differ, and certain differences affect the scoring outcome.
In order to predict how various defects will impact the score of a given property, it is necessary to know how many buildings exist, how many Units in each building, how many types of Common Areas, and exactly which "Amenities" or Inspectable Items exist within each Inspectable Area. There is a very delicate dance of numbers, in which dozens of variables come into play to produce the value of each defect.
Secondly, we suspect that some officials within HUD buy into the concept that utilizing the scoring system to guide compliance efforts is indeed "cheating." It is possible that within HUD, some feel that properties should simply be made "perfect," no matter what it takes, and that knowing how the scoring works would allow owners and managers to somehow plan unacceptable deferral of maintenance and "game the system" to profit unfairly by avoiding responsibility for the condition of their properties.
If this is the case, it demonstrates very poor confidence in the system of evaluation that HUD has created, don't you think? If reverse engineering this carefully designed and very complicated system to decode its meaning reveals that it has flaws that can be exploited, then the system is not as well designed as they would have us think.
We feel that the scoring system was, in fact, well designed, and that it points to very important principles of management and stewardship. We feel that it is a terrible shame that the reasoning behind it has been hidden for all these years. We feel that HUD has simply failed to recognize the value of the reasoning behind this system, and to express it clearly - and it is our mission to explain it for the benefit of owners, managers, the residents of their properties, the communities that these properties serve, and the American Tax Payer whose money is invested.
Thirdly, we doubt that anyone at HUD whose job it is to communicate HUD's objectives to the industry and to enforce HUD's regulations actually understands the intricacies of the scoring system. There may be a few "engineers" who understand the scoring system well enough to explain it, but they are relegated to back office jobs and considered geeks whose "paygrade" precludes their participating in making policy or making sense of the system for the rest of the world. The scoring system is "simply geek stuff" to HUD's executives, yet understanding it is critical to your business.
Fourthly, we think that human nature (and perhaps mild arrogance) results in a belief among those very officials, who could dictate that this scoring system be laid bare, that if they don't understand something, well then, you and I sure as hell don't need to (or could not) understand it. The next time you hear anyone from HUD explain that the scoring system depends on "algorithms," suggesting that you just wouldn't understand, ASK THEM what an algorithm is - see if they can define the word.
So - You May Be Asking, "How CAN I Understand the Scoring System? I Don't Know What an Algorithm is Either!"