The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administers billions in presidentially declared disaster recovery grants through its Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program.  We audited five non-State grantees to assess whether they are on track to spend their remaining grant funds on eligible activities that benefit program participants within a reasonable amount of time.  We also wanted to...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) is auditing the use of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds as non-Federal match for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA)Public Assistance Program.  Our objectives are to determine whether four CDBG-DR grantees made improper payments and whether the Office of Community Planning and...

We audited the project activity status for 12 grantees that received funds under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) National Disaster Resilience (NDR) grant to determine whether the grantees have accomplished or are on track to accomplish the goals of the activities outlined in their action plans. We found that NDR grantees should be able to accomplish their...

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...

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...

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-...

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...

We audited the Puerto Rico Department of Housing’s (PRDOH) fraud risk management practices to assess the maturity of its antifraud efforts.  HUD heavily relies on its grantees to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse and PRDOH is HUD’s second largest Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery and Mitigation (CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT) grantee with over $20 billion in block grant funding.  Our objective was to assess...

We performed an audit related to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Disaster Recovery Data Portal.  The Disaster Recovery Data Portal is a technological solution planned by HUD to facilitate the rapid and secure transmission of data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery grantees.  We performed the work because HUD needs a...

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...

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...

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.

HUD OIG is auditing HUD’s disaster preparedness from 2005 to 2018.  We performed this audit due to an agreement with six other Inspectors General as part of a Disaster Assistance Working Group-Cross Cutting Functional Effort by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to determine to what extent the Federal departments were prepared for upcoming natural disasters.  Our specific audit objective was to...

"HUD OIG performed the seventh of the ongoing audits of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC’s) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant (Block Grant) Disaster Recovery Assistance funds provided to the State of New York following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.  HUD OIG’s audit objectives were to determine whether the LMDC (1)...

HUD OIG audited the 2004 Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery funds provided to the State of Florida (State). We selected this grant for review based on risk factors associated with fraud, waste and abuse.  HUD OIG's audit objectives were to determine whether the State (1) awarded and disbursed disaster recovery funds in accordance with HUD requirements and (2) implemented adequate procedures for monitoring the...

HUD OIG performed the sixth of the ongoing audits of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC’s) administration of the Community Development Block Grant (Block Grant) Disaster Recovery Assistance funds provided to the State of New York following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.  HUD has allocated $2.783 billion in Disaster Recovery Assistance funds to the LMDC. ...