The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited HUD's requirement prohibiting lifetime registered sex offenders from admission to HUD-subsidized housing. Our audit objective was to determine the extent to which HUD-subsidized housing was occupied by lifetime registered sex offenders.

HUD subsidized an estimated 2,094 to 3,046 households that included lifetime registered sex offenders. As a result, it did not accomplish the objective of the statute to prevent admission of dangerous sex offenders, and the same offenders who were deemed too dangerous for admission were allowed to continue living in subsidized housing.

We recommended that HUD seek legislative and program rule changes to require denial of continued occupancy and termination of tenancy, or continued subsidy as appropriate, for all lifetime registered sex offenders residing in subsidized housing. If legislative changes are passed, we recommend that HUD develop and implement a plan to detect lifetime registered sex offenders occupying subsidized housing. Additionally, we recommended that HUD require projects and housing authorities to revise their admission, screening, and recertification procedures and urge them to aggressively pursue termination of assistance for lifetime sex offenders to the extent currently allowed by law.