Develop and implement controls to ensure that employees comply with its computer, internet, and email use policy and use only official business email accounts to transmit confidential information.

Develop and implement controls to ensure that its Section 8 coordinator is adequately trained and supervised to ensure that the program operates in accordance with requirements.

Follow its administrative plan to ensure that program requirements are met.

Provide technical assistance to the Authority to ensure that it properly administers its program and that program regulations are met.

Evaluate the Authority’s email system and its computer, internet, and email use policy to determine whether they provide sufficient safeguards for transmitting and handling confidential information.

Reimburse its program $119,023 from non-Federal funds for the ineligible housing assistance payments it made due to the conflict-of-interest situation identified by the audit and any additional ineligible housing assistance payments it made outside our review period.

Develop and implement controls to prevent and detect conflict-of-interest situations.

Provide documentation to support the $811,325 in code enforcement costs (activities 591, 619, and 645), including meeting code enforcement and salary and benefit requirements,4 or repay the program from non-Federal funds.

Develop and implement a targeted code enforcement strategy that specifies deteriorating or deteriorated areas where code enforcement would be expected to arrest decline. The strategy should include a description of public or private improvements, rehabilitation, or services that would help facilitate code enforcement and also include performance metrics to track progress.

Develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure that code enforcement salaries and benefits are charged and documented in accordance with program requirements.

Provide documentation to support $285,496 in graffiti abatement expenditures or repay the program from non-Federal funds (appendix D).

Develop and implement procedures and controls to ensure that graffiti abatement expenditures, including salaries and benefits, are accurately charged to CDBG grants and properly supported.

Develop a method for using the Do Not Pay portal during the underwriting process to identify delinquent child support and delinquent Federal debt to prevent future FHA loans to ineligible borrowers to put $1.9 billion to better use.

Status

The Office of Housing has approved prioritization of funding for Integration between Do Not Pay portal and CHUMS. Funding was allocated to the CHUMS IT contractor on January 26, 2024, to integrate Treasury’s Do Not Pay system with CHUMS, and the IT development project was kicked off the week of February 5, 2024.

As of June 2024, the Office of Single Family Housing reported that it is working with OCIO and Treasury on the business needs for the project, and estimated that the project would be complete by September 30, 2024.

Analysis

To fully address this recommendation, HUD must provide evidence that it has implemented applicant screening against the Do Not Pay portal to identify delinquent child support and delinquent Federal debt to prevent future FHA loans going to ineligible borrowers.

Implementation of this rule should result in HUD putting $1.9 billion to better use.

Revise the single-family handbook to comply with regulations that prevent loans to borrowers with delinquent child support subject to Federal offset.

Schedule the timely renewal of data-sharing agreements to prevent data loss in CAIVRS or discontinue use of the system if implementation of 1A makes CAIVRS unnecessary.

Acknowledge that the attached settlement agreement for $4,000 represents an amount due HUD from MetLife.

Enforce the indemnification agreement in the attached settlement agreement to prevent an estimated $95,769 loss to HUD. This represents an amount due HUD from MetLife for indemnifying and holding HUD harmless for any and all losses HUD incurs or has incurred in connection with FHA loan number 137-4740973.

Acknowledge that the attached settlement agreement for $1,500 represents an amount due HUD from the borrower’s son.

Ensure that HUD completes the debarment process and appropriately notifies the independent public accountant of the debarment decision.

Strengthen current written policies on occupancy requirements for subsidized multifamily housing programs to ensure that prospective tenants do not improperly bypass waiting lists.