As of January 2024, 85 percent of HUD employees had approved telework agreements, and 9 percent had approved remote work agreements.  HUD estimated that 31 percent of remote employees were remote as a reasonable accommodation.  Most of HUD’s remote workers served in a limited number of occupations.  We evaluated the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer’s (OCHCO) controls over the quality of data related to...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) and the Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity (ODEEO) both have responsibilities related to increasing the percentage of employees who identify as Hispanic or Latino.  HUD provides an Annual Equal Employment Opportunity Program Status Report, also known as the Annual Management Directive 715 Report (MD-715...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of the timeliness of the Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity's (ODEEO) equal employment opportunity (EEO) complaint-handling process between fiscal years (FY) 2017 and 2023. The evaluation will focus on ODEEO’s EEO investigations and final agency decisions from FY 2017-2023. The objectives for this evaluation are (1) to determine factors affecting the timeliness of...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of HUD’s utilization and oversight of its remote work and telework programs during the period April 25, 2022, to January 13, 2024. Our objectives are to assess: (1) HUD employees’ utilization of remote work and telework programs; (2) HUD’s administration of locality payments to its remote workers and teleworkers; and (3) HUD’s support and training of supervisors overseeing employee...

Retention is a shared responsibility between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) and HUD’s other program offices.  OCHCO sets the departmentwide retention strategy, while the program offices have responsibility for managing retention within their offices.  Our evaluation determined that HUD’s departmentwide retention strategy in fiscal years (FY) 2019-...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program offices issued departmental notices to inform public housing agencies (PHA) and owners of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021’s (the Act) requirements.  In addition, HUD program offices planned to use HUD’s revised physical inspection processes to ensure that PHAs and owners complied with the Act, namely under its new National Standards for the Physical...

We audited the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s (Authority) management of lead‐based paint in its public housing program based on our assessment of the risks of lead‐based paint in public housing agencies’ (PHA) housing developments. The risk factors included the age of buildings, the number of units, household demographics, reported cases of childhood lead poisoning, and reports of missing lead‐based paint inspections in HUD’s data...

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lead-based paint and lead-contaminated dust are some of the most widespread and hazardous sources of lead exposure for young children in the United States.  There is no safe blood lead level in children, and there is no cure for lead poisoning.  Therefore, it is important to prevent exposure to lead, especially among children. U.S. Department of Housing...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of HUD’s recruitment efforts to address underrepresentation of employees who identify as Hispanic or Latino. Our objectives are to (1) determine the status of HUD’s recruitment plans to address the underrepresentation of employees who identify as Hispanic or Latino and (2) identify how HUD tracks the effectiveness of its recruitment actions to increase representation of employees who...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of HUD’s employee retention. Our objectives are to: 1. To determine whether HUD has a high voluntary separation rate relative to similar agencies, and which program offices or demographic groups, if any, have high rates relative to HUD’s overall rate or to equivalent groups in similar agencies. 2. To determine what retention-relevant programs HUD employs and the extent to which...

HUD established procedures in the Lead Safe Housing Rule in 1999 to eliminate lead-based paint hazards, as far as practicable, in public housing.  However, it did not have a plan to manage lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in public housing.  Additionally, HUD generally did not monitor whether public housing agencies had implemented lead-based paint hazard reduction and documented the activities at their public...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) transitioning of offices from mandatory to maximum telework during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, based on a request from Representative Gerald Connolly, to review whether HUD was employing best practices and existing guidance when deciding whether or when to require Federal employees to return to their offices.  Transitioning an office to...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of HUD’s processes for addressing cases of children residing in public housing with elevated blood lead levels (EBLL).  The objectives are to: 1. Use available information to identify HUD-assisted properties owned and managed by public housing agencies at risk of having lead-based paint hazards. 2. Determine the effectiveness of HUD’s processes for addressing cases of children...

HUD OIG is reviewing HUD's plans to reopen its offices to its employees. This work is in response to a Congressional request. The review objective is to determine whether HUD is following (1) its Resuming Normal Operations Guide, COVID-19 Response, Headquarters and Field Offices; (2) Federal, State, and local government and appropriate non-governmental guidance; and (3) best practices in reopening its offices to employees.