In response to the wide-reaching impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government provided more than $5 trillion in emergency relief across more than 500 government programs to help individuals, businesses, and state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments respond to the pandemic. To learn how communities across the nation responded to the pandemic, we initiated a multi-part review of six communities. 

We audited the Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority’s (PRHFA) Homebuyer Assistance Program (HBA), which provides eligible applicants with closing costs and downpayment assistance for the purchase of a primary residence.  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided its grantee, the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (PRDOH), $495 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds for HBA Our…

In January 2017, HUD awarded the City $141.2 million in Community Development Block Grant National Disaster Resilience grant funding for disaster resilience. HUD designed the grant to give states flexibility in planning program activities and help state and local communities recover from past disasters, while also improving their infrastructure to withstand future extreme events through strategic community investments.  The City initially…

February 23, 2024, letter from Inspector General Oliver Davis responding to letter from Senator Rubio requesting an investigation into federal employees who may have signed an anonymous, open letter regarding a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), Education and Outreach Initiative (EOI).  We conducted this audit to help HUD determine whether the education and outreach provided was going to the people who have been systematically denied full housing opportunity.  Our audit objective was to assess how FHIP organizations…

We audited the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights’ fair housing complaint intake process.  We initiated this audit based on an internal risk assessment of Fair Housing Assistance Program agencies’ challenges.  Our audit objectives were to (1) determine the extent to which the Commission processed fair housing inquiries within 30 days and (2) evaluate its reasons for closing fair housing inquiries.We were unable to determine the…

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), to the U…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of multifamily housing properties with failing Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) scores or life-threatening exigent health and safety (EHS) deficiencies.  Our objective was to determine whether HUD had effective oversight of multifamily housing properties to ensure that the properties were maintained in decent, safe, and sanitary condition.The…

February 12, 2024, Letter from Inspector General Oliver Davis responding to request from Senator Ernst requesting a review of HUD to answer several questions regarding use and oversight over telework; locality pay; guidance for or incentivizing workforce return to the office; and office space utilization and associated costs.

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) process for collecting financial information from grantees participating in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Entitlement program. Prior year HUD financial statement audits found weaknesses in CPD’s processes to estimate accrued grant liabilities and instances where it appeared CDBG grantees were holding…

The Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) directs Inspectors General to conduct an annual evaluation of the agency information security program. FISMA, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) establish information technology (IT) security guidance and standards for Federal agencies. We conducted this evaluation to assess the…

While conducting our annual audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD or Department) compliance with the Payment Integrity and Information Act, HUD’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) informed my office that the Department will once again be unable to estimate improper payments for the Office of Public and Indian Housing’s Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (PIH-TBRA) program and the Office of Multifamily…

While conducting our annual audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD or Department) compliance with the Payment Integrity and Information Act, HUD’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) informed my office that the Department will once again be unable to estimate improper payments for the Office of Public and Indian Housing’s Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (PIH-TBRA) program and the Office of Multifamily…

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) 2019-2022…

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide an update on the overall status of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) implementation of HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Priority Open Recommendations and to transmit the attached list of Priority Open Recommendations for fiscal year (FY) 2024.  Our goal is to highlight key open recommendations from prior OIG reports that if implemented, would have the greatest…

We have completed our fiscal year (FY) 2023 Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) penetration test and vulnerability assessment.  The objective of this evaluation was to test and verify the technical implementation of a limited set of security controls on judgmentally selected U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) information systems and applications.HUD demonstrated successes in securely…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Single Family Housing’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Resource Center’s handling of housing discrimination inquiries.  We initiated the audit to assist HUD with ensuring that the FHA Resource Center (1) provided accurate and complete information on potential housing discrimination to its customers and (2) ensured that instances of potential housing…

From 2001 to 2022, the Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery program provided almost $98 billion to states, cities, counties, and territories to help them recover from disasters.  Administering disaster recovery has been a recurring U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) top management challenge since 2018.  Therefore, we audited the disaster recovery program to determine whether the Office of Community…

The Inspector General Act of 1978 requires the Inspector General to prepare semiannual reports summarizing the activities of the Office of Inspector General for the preceding six-month period. The semiannual reports are intended to keep the Secretary and Congress fully informed of significant findings, progress the Agency has made, and recommendations for improvement.*Following the issuance of SAR 90, OIG identified a recommended…

We contracted with the independent public accounting firm of CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA) to audit the financial statements of HUD as of and for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, and to provide reports on HUD’s (1) internal control over financial reporting and (2) compliance with laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements and other matters, including whether financial management systems complied substantially with the…