Identify strategic opportunities to use remote monitoring early in the FY to maximize its responsibility to oversee and monitor its grantees and then use remote monitoring when those opportunities arise.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations Provide additional training and guidance to field office program staff on SEMAP scoring, rating, and verification procedures, including confirmatory reviews, quality control reviews, and adjustments to the SEMAP process.

We recommend that the Director of CPD’s Office of Disaster Recovery review the one grantee with a grant totaling $666,666 that did not meet the overall LMI requirement and address the noncompliance.

We recommend that the Director of CPD’s Office of Disaster Recovery update DRGR’s QPR to include information on the progress towards compliance with the overall LMI benefit based on the total amount of the grant.

Create a plan and timeline that outlines OFO’s proposal to make necessary improvements to the EBLL tracker, such as moving it to a different platform.

Provide field office staff access to historical data in the EBLL tracker to be readily available as needed, with adequate protection of PII.

Update the EBLL tracker to show whether one or multiple children have an EBLL and whether the unit, building, or development previously had an EBLL reported.

Update the EBLL tracker by including which data fields are required, establishing what type of information can be entered into each data field, and disallowing case closure if required information is missing.

Create a plan and timeline that outlines OFO’s proposal to move the LBPR tracker to a different platform.

Develop a timeliness standard in the LBPR tracker to establish expectations for how often field office staff must reach out to PHAs on the LBPR tracker to discuss measures that will resolve cases in a timely manner.

Implement a quality control review to ensure that successive below-60 REAC inspection score flags are entered into APPS.

Update APPS to automatically flag a property that receives successive below-60 REAC inspection scores.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing update its COVID-19 Resources for Homeowners webpage to clearly communicate that homeowners who had not previously requested forbearance by September 30, 2021, are eligible to request forbearance from their servicer through the end of the COVID-19 National Emergency.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing update its COVID-19 Resources for Homeowners webpage to include information on the various COVID-19 loss mitigation options servicers may offer homeowners with FHA-insured forward mortgages who are exiting COVID-19 forbearance.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing update its COVID-19 Resources for Homeowners webpage to include details about the protections and loss mitigation options available for homeowners with FHA-insured reverse mortgages. This information could include (1) instructions for requesting an extension, (2) a statement notifying homeowners that they should not be charged late fees or penalties, (3) a chart showing the extension periods and related deadlines, and (4) information on the various loss mitigation options available for homeowners with FHA-insured reverse mortgages who are exiting a COVID-19 HECM extension.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing update its COVID-19 Resources for Homeowners webpage to include relevant information on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Homeowner Assistance Fund.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing work with the Office of Public Affairs, Office of Housing Counseling, and other offices within HUD to develop a detailed communication strategy for how and when it plans to use websites, letters, and other methods to proactively notify homeowners about relief programs, protections, and loss mitigation options during disasters and national emergencies. The strategy could include processes to ensure that (1) key information is provided or made available in a timely manner and kept up-to-date, (2) information is communicated clearly and consistently across mediums, and is linked together when possible, and (3) letters are mailed to struggling homeowners when needed. It could also articulate the methods HUD will use to reach homeowners without internet access.

Research, evaluate, and implement technical or alternative solutions to deploy essential computer software updates using appropriate secure methods to ensure that computer security updates occur in a timely manner to minimize risk to HUD’s systems and operations

Research, evaluate, and implement technical solutions to provide additional improvements to VPN and related remote working capabilities of HUD system users.

Perform routine VPN stress tests as part of its contingency planning and testing processes to regularly identify and remediate network performance issues and ensure that network capabilities are sufficient for teleworking.