We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) use of its Integrated Disbursement and Information System to provide oversight of activities in its Community Development Block Grant program. The audit was performed based on the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan and its strategic plan to help HUD improve its fiscal responsibilities. The objective of the audit was to assess the adequacy of HUD’s use of its System to provide oversight of activities in its Block Grant program.

HUD did not adequately use its System to provide oversight of activities under its Block Grant program. HUD was unaware of how grantees used nearly $67 million that it provided them to fund more than 1,300 activities that grantees later cancelled in the System. In addition, HUD lacked adequate oversight of almost $3 billion used to fund more than 20,000 long-standing open activities that grantees had reportedly not completed for up to 11 years.

We recommend that HUD implement policies and procedures requiring it to (1) periodically use the data contained in its System to provide oversight of cancelled and long-standing open or revised activities and (2) evaluate the adequacy of actions grantees take regarding cancelled and long-standing open or revised activities shown in its System. We further recommend that HUD direct responsible grantees to justify the use of nearly $67 million that it disbursed for activities that they later cancelled in the System or repay HUD from non-Federal funds.