We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity’s (FHEO) challenges in completing housing discrimination investigations within 100 days.  We initiated the audit due to the number of investigations reported in FHEO’s annual reports to Congress that exceeded 100 days.  Our objective was to survey and assess the challenges FHEO faces in completing investigations within 100 days for Title VIII complaints in accordance with the Fair Housing Act. 

Based on our survey, FHEO faces several challenges in completing investigations within 100 days for Title VIII complaints, including (1) limited staffing and training, (2) staff workload, (3) complexity of the case work, (4) uncooperative or unresponsive parties, and (5) inconsistent review processes with the Office of General Counsel (OGC).  Aware of these challenges, FHEO took steps to address its limited staffing and increase the availability of training.  However, FHEO does not have control over the complexity of the cases it receives and whether the parties to each case are cooperative or responsive.  Because of these challenges, 81 percent (122 of 150) of the respondents to our survey stated that completing investigations within 100 days was not attainable.  Due to these challenges, FHEO did not complete 70.2 percent of its investigations within 100 days from 2020 to 2022.  Despite being unable to control all the factors that lead to a timely investigation, FHEO has opportunities to review its investigative processes across regions to make processes more efficient and increase the number of timely outcomes.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (1)  update protocols to promote consistent expectations for timely supervisory, legal, and headquarters reviews of complex cases; (2) review and update the memorandums of understanding with OGC for each region to identify and remove inefficiencies that can lead to longer FHEO investigation times and OGC review times and identify best practices that can be implemented across all regions; and (3) review and update investigative processes followed by each regional office to identify best practices that can be implemented across all regions and identify and remove inefficiencies that can lead to longer investigation times.