Under the Lead Safe Housing Rule (LSHR), owners of multifamily properties receiving assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) must comply with specific requirements following reports that a child under the age of 6 residing in an assisted unit has a confirmed elevated blood lead level (EBLL).  Some of these requirements are (1) ensuring that an environmental investigation is conducted to determine…

HUD’s Office of Single Family Housing did not consistently monitor its Field Service Management (FSM) contractors’ property preservation and protection services.  Specifically, HUD provided inconsistent monitoring for 34 of the 79 statistically sampled records we reviewed, and these involved discrepancies between HUD’s assessment, the support, and the performance work statement.  HUD did not develop and apply a clear and…

This report was issued from a developing series of six reports taking an in-depth look at how six communities used the pandemic funding they received to address a wide range of needs. This report focused on White Earth Nation Reservation in Minnesota with a detailed look at ten of the 56 pandemic programs that provided funding to the community. This report was led by the Pandemic Relief Accountability Committee (PRAC) in coordination…

We audited the Boston Housing Authority’s public housing program to determine whether the physical condition of the Authority’s program units complied with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and the Authority’s requirements.  The audit was initiated based on our assessment of risks associated with public housing agencies’ program units and recent media attention and public concern about the condition of…

This report was issued from a developing series of six reports taking an in-depth look at how six communities used the pandemic funding they received to address a wide range of needs. This report focused on Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, with a detailed look at six of the 27 pandemic programs that provided funding to the community. This report was led by the Pandemic Relief Accountability Committee (PRAC) in coordination with HUD OIG as a…

HUD’s Office of Housing contracts with performance-based contract administrators to administer the housing assistance payments (HAP) contract with owners.  Through RAD, HUD oversees the HAP contracts for converted properties and monitors owners for compliance with HUD’s requirements, which include maintaining (1) units in decent, safe, and sanitary condition and (2) reserve for replacement accounts to help defray the cost of…

The purpose of this memorandum is to alert the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to an issue that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), has identified that affects the timeliness with which public housing agencies (PHA) with units that have lead-based paint are performing required lead-based paint visual assessments.HUD OIG audited, among other issues, whether three of the nation’s largest…

We audited HUD and its grantees’ monitoring of subrecipients and contractors in HUD’s Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (ESG-CV) program to assess subrecipient monitoring in the program.  ESG and ESG-CV grantees often rely on subrecipients and contractors to carry out ESG-CV-funded activities on behalf of the grantees, and are required to monitor subrecipients to ensure that the…

This report was issued from a developing series of six reports taking an in-depth look at how six communities used the pandemic funding they received to address a wide range of needs. This report focused on Sheridan County, Nebraska, with a detailed look at six of the 31 pandemic programs that provided funding to the community. This report was led by the Pandemic Relief Accountability Committee in coordination with HUD OIG as a project…

We audited the Boston Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program.  We initiated this audit based upon our assessment of risks associated with public housing agencies' HCV Program units, as well as recent media attention and public concern about the conditions of subsidized housing properties.  Our objective was to determine whether the physical conditions of the Authority’s HCV units complied with both the U.S.…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles’ management of lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in its public housing units.  We selected the Authority based on our assessment of the risks of lead‐based paint in public housing agencies’ (PHA) housing developments, including the age of buildings, the number of units, household demographics, and reported cases of childhood lead poisoning.  The audit…

We audited the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Budget and Fiscal Services’ and Department of Community Services’ (City) fraud risk management practices for its Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (ESG CARES Act) program with the objective of assessing the maturity of the City’s fraud risk management framework that encompasses control activities to prevent, detect, and respond to…

We audited the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) with the objective of evaluating HCD’s fraud risk management practices for its Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (ESG CARES Act) program and assessing the maturity of its efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud.  Fraudulent activity in the ESG CARES Act program can lead to significant financial…

We audited the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s management of lead‐based paint in its public housing program based on our assessment of the risks of lead‐based paint in public housing.  The risk factors assessed included the age of buildings, the number of units, household demographics, and reported cases of childhood lead poisoning.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the Authority (1) complied with HUD’…

This report was issued from a developing series of six reports taking an in-depth look at how six communities used the pandemic funding they received to address a wide range of needs. This report focused on Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, with a detailed look at eight of the 45 pandemic programs that provided funding to the community. This report was led by the Pandemic Relief Accountability Committee (PRAC) in coordination with HUD OIG as a…

We audited the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program.  The audit was initiated based on our assessment of risks associated with public housing agencies’ HCV Program units and recent media attention and public concern about the conditions of subsidized housing properties.  Our objective was to determine whether the physical condition of the Authority’s HCV Program units complied with…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of multifamily housing properties with failing Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) scores or life-threatening exigent health and safety (EHS) deficiencies.  Our objective was to determine whether HUD had effective oversight of multifamily housing properties to ensure that the properties were maintained in decent, safe, and sanitary condition.The…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program offices issued departmental notices to inform public housing agencies (PHA) and owners of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021’s (the Act) requirements.  In addition, HUD program offices planned to use HUD’s revised physical inspection processes to ensure that PHAs and owners complied with the Act, namely under its new National Standards for the Physical…

We performed an audit examining HUD’s efforts to prevent duplication of benefits when using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery and Mitigation funds.  Our objective was to determine how the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assesses the adequacy of grantee procedures to prevent a duplication of benefits, both before and after grant execution. HUD certified grantees’ high-level processes…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Native American Programs’ (ONAP) coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) recovery programs.  We performed this audit to provide HUD with insight and a nationwide perspective on the challenges that grantees experienced with those programs.  Our audit objectives were to identify 1) the information, guidance, and training HUD provided to the grantees…