Obtain the missing mortgage documents for 33 loans and the missing note documents for 40 loans, totaling $644,767 in partial claim notes, and require any unrecorded mortgage documents to be recorded at the appropriate county’s office to ensure that HUD’s interests are protected. For any missing documents that cannot be obtained, the Deputy Assistant Secretary should require the lender to reimburse HUD for the partial claim note.

Coordinate with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Finance and Budget to record lender payments to update the balances for 139 loans in SMART, resulting in funds to be put to better use in the amount of $1,055,113.

Pursue the collection of the $5,690,000 in surplus proceeds that HUD was entitled to receive from 2017 loan terminations.

Implement a policy to require servicers to send surplus proceeds notifications to the HUD Secretary-held assets servicing contractor and establish procedures to improve HUD’s surplus proceeds collection efforts.

Redesign the partial claim program to eliminate its weaknesses and ensure that partial claims benefit from a stronger lien position to put $6,770,000 to better use.

Develop a method for using the Do Not Pay portal during the underwriting process to identify delinquent child support and delinquent Federal debt to prevent future FHA loans to ineligible borrowers to put $1.9 billion to better use.

Status

The Office of Housing has approved prioritization of funding for Integration between the Treasury’s Do Not Pay portal and HUD’s Computerized Homes Underwriting Reporting System (CHUMS). Funding was allocated to the CHUMS IT contractor on January 26, 2024, to integrate Treasury’s Do Not Pay system with CHUMS, and the IT development project was kicked off the week of February 5, 2024. As of February 2025, the Office of Single Family Housing reported that it is in the process of completing the necessary documentation and systems connection with the Do Not Pay portal. Single Family plans to submit an update on the system interface project or request another extension in March 2025.

Analysis

To fully address this recommendation, HUD must provide evidence that it has implemented applicant screening against the Do Not Pay portal to identify delinquent child support and delinquent federal debt to prevent future FHA loans from going to ineligible borrowers.

Implementation of this rule should result in HUD putting $1.9 billion to better use.

Revise the single-family handbook to comply with regulations that prevent loans to borrowers with delinquent child support subject to Federal offset.

We recommend that the Southwest Region Director of Multifamily Housing require Villa Main Apartments owner to repay HUD $534,741 for 39 subsidized units with ineligible “ghost” tenants.

We recommend that the Southwest Region Director of Multifamily Housing require Villa Main Apartments owner to provide support that the subsidized 43 units without annual physical inspections, without required EIV reports, or with missing files were eligible or repay HUD $1,095,364 for those subsidies.

We recommend that the Southwest Region Director of Multifamily Housing require Villa Main Apartments owner to implement appropriate controls to ensure tenants are eligible, housing assistance subsidies are accurate, and that units are inspected as required.

We further recommend that the Southwest Region Director of Multifamily Housing verify that the owner is providing oversight to its onsite staff and its recently implemented quality control program is working as designed and in accordance with HUD requirements.

We further recommend that the Southwest Region Director of Multifamily Housing ensure that the project-based contract administrator’s review process includes steps to obtain reasonable assurance that tenants being reported as subsidized at Villa Main qualify for the program and live in the subsidized units.

Track and ensure that Volunteers returns to the Treasury any funds recovered through the ongoing litigation pertaining to the Yabucoa housing project.

Return to the Puerto Rico Department of Housing $1,057,467, plus any interest earned, for the duplicate special escrow fund payments it received.

Require indemnification for the 26 loans that had significant servicing deficiencies. In these cases, the loss to HUD was $1,673,117 (appendixes A and D).

Require that the servicers with significant and other deficiencies revise and update their policies and procedures, as necessary, to ensure that they comply with HUD requirements and guidance on loss mitigation evaluation.

Provide documentation to show that prices paid for purchases of products and services totaling $970,381 were fair and reasonable or reimburse the project from nonproject funds for any amounts that were not fair and reasonable.

Reconsider HUD’s position on questioned borrower-financed downpayment assistance programs, including an analysis of the financial impact to FHA borrowers, risk to the FHA program, and whether current statute prohibits borrower-financed downpayment assistance programs as they are currently structured.

Develop specific requirements and guidance for lenders to review HFA downpayment assistance programs (for example, interest rates, fees, borrower certifications, lender reviews, impact to borrower, related agreements, etc.). Requirements and guidance should include evaluating the structure of downpayment assistance programs, including whether the programs’ structure and funding mechanisms comply with all HUD requirements and guidelines.

Require lenders to obtain a borrower certification that details their participation in an HFA downpayment assistance program, including relevant details of the specific program (for example, impact on interest rate, mortgage payments, fees, equity, acknowledgement of other less costly loan products, etc.).