The not-for-profit North East Community Action Corporation (NECAC) has received a top rating for administering a federal program in 12 counties that helps people pay their rent.NECAC President and Chief Executive Officer Don Patrick said the agency earned a 104 percent rating from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for its performance in administering the Section 8 Housing Rent-Assistance Program.NECAC was one of 58 housing agencies in Missouri tested on the HUD annual Section-Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) monitoring and evaluation system.NECAC received extra credit points to boost the rating above 100 percent. The agency has contracted with HUD for more than 35 years to administer the Section-Eight program in Lewis, Lincoln, Macon, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Ralls, Randolph, St. Charles, Shelby and Warren counties and Cuivre Township in Audrain County. The cities of Hannibal and St. Charles are excluded because they have their own public housing authorities.NECAC administers more than 2,600 HUD Rental Assistance Program and Shelter Plus Care rental vouchers in its service area.The HUD SEMAP assessment tested NECAC in 15 areas of its administration of the Section-Eight program, including timely annual HUD Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspections of the private houses, apartments and mobile homes used in the program; lease-up rates; payment standards; and determination of the tenants’ adjusted income.“This is HUD’s way of testing and monitoring which housing agencies and authorities are doing a good job of administering the programs in an efficient, effective manner,” Patrick said. “We’re very pleased. This reflects highly on the work quality of the NECAC Housing Rent-Assistance Program staff. They are providing services and making sure that tenants are receiving decent, affordable and safe housing, and that landlords are receiving top-quality customer service.”The Section-Eight Housing Rent-Assistance program provides partial rent assistance to qualifying participants. NECAC provides applicants with a list of landlords who are participating in the program. The applicant is responsible for making contact with the landlords. A percentage of their monthly rent is forwarded by NECAC directly to the landlord. The remaining part of the rent is paid by the tenant to the landlord. The amount of the rent subsidy depends upon the number of bedrooms in the home, the fair market rent in a given area and the tenant’s income.For more information, please call NECAC Section-Eight Rent-Assistance Programs Director Dianna Clair at 573-324-6633. Clients may also call the NECAC service center in their county.NECAC