Require lenders to obtain the borrowers’ consent to verify the existence of delinquent Federal taxes with the IRS during loan origination and deny any applicant with delinquent Federal tax debt and no payment plan or a noncompliant payment plan or an applicant refusing to provide consent from receiving FHA insurance to put at least $6.1 billion to better use by avoiding potential future costs to the FHA insurance fund.

Status

As of January 2026, the Office of Multifamily has developed standard operating procedures for its field office staff and plans to issue additional guidance to HUD staff and multifamily property owners on addressing lead in the water for multifamily properties.  Although the final action target date has passed, the guidance is undergoing HUD's internal review clearance process.  HUD did not provide an estimated date for issuance of the guidance to close the recommendation.

Analysis

To fully address this recommendation, the Office of Multifamily Housing must provide evidence of an action plan or policy that includes procedures to ensure households living in multifamily units have a sufficient supply of safe drinking water.

Implementation of this recommendation will enable HUD to have sufficient oversight and control activities in place to ensure households living in multifamily housing have a sufficient supply of safe drinking water.