The purpose of this memorandum is to provide an update on the overall status of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) implementation of HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Priority Open Recommendations and to transmit the attached list of Priority Open Recommendations for fiscal year (FY) 2024.

On September 28, 2022, HUD OIG issued this inaugural Priority Open Recommendations resource for the Department and other stakeholders to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of HUD programs and operations. These priority open recommendations fall within several areas we identified in our FY 2022 Top Management Challenges report:

The OIG has learned that employees of thousands of contractors who receive funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are not protected against retaliation for blowing the whistle on wrongdoing.  The gap in protections exists because (1) the contracts pre-date July 1, 2013, the date on which the anti-retaliation law codified at 41 U.S.C.

While conducting an ongoing audit of the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s (Authority) management of lead-based paint hazards in its public housing units, we identified a significant gap in HUD’s program requirements related to safe work practices, which we believe requires immediate action by HUD.  We identified that the Authority determined a substantial percentage of maintenance and hazard reduction work performed on surfaces with lead-based paint in its public housing units was “de minimis”, or minor.  The Authority’s determinations exem