Develop a comprehensive process to ensure that complaints received by HUD’s Multifamily Housing Clearinghouse are resolved in a timely manner.

Corrective Action Taken

The  Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Resource Center fields complaint calls and directs them to the appropriate party. When a FHA Resource Center complaint is referred to the Multifamily Regional Office, it is entered into the Asset Management Processing System (AMPS), the workload tracking system for HUD’s Multifamily Programs, within one day of receipt and tracked to completion with a goal of resolution within 21 days of receipt.  If a complaint is categorized as health and safety, it is prioritized for expeditious response by the assigned Account Executive.  Multifamily Field and Regional management track responses, to ensure resolution.  This includes having the Account Executives, at times, call the resident to confirm the issue has been resolved.  Based upon process as described HUD OIG concurred with the closure of this priority recommendation.

Develop agencywide policies and procedures for the intake, monitoring, and tracking of health and safety complaints.

Status

The Office of Multifamily Housing has not yet updated its policies and procedures for the intake, monitoring, and tracking of health and safety complaints.  HUD was in the process of developing an automated monitoring system in the FHA resource center to allow tracking of individual calls and the call’s subject, such as health and safety.  HUD missed the final action target date of December 31, 2022, and a new completion goal was set for February 2025.  In July 2025, HUD sought closure for this recommendation due to unavailability of funds.  HUD stated that its issuance of policies and procedures for a comprehensive process was contingent on the development of a tracking system for the complaint process, for which it has repeatedly requested funding from Congress to no avail. As of January 2026, OIG is in the process of collaborating with HUD on finding a potential corrective action to resolve outstanding concerns.

Analysis

To fully address this recommendation, HUD must provide evidence that it has developed and implemented policies and procedures for the Multifamily properties for the intake, monitoring, and tracking of health and safety complaints it receives when using the FHA’s automated monitoring system.

Implementation of this recommendation will result in HUD having a more efficient process for taking in, monitoring, and tracking health and safety complaints and aid HUD in more efficiently addressing those complaints.

Develop an automated real-time system for HUD and PBCA staff to use to receive, track, and resolve health and safety issues.

Revise the annual contributions contract to more clearly define the required treatment of health and safety issues, to include: • Specific timeliness requirements for resolving life-threatening and non-life-threatening health and safety issues. • Notification that HUD will actively monitor the status of complaints and become involved in resolution if necessary. • Requirement that PBCAs will immediately contact HUD staff if a property has a life-threatening or non-life-threatening health and safety issue and report when the issue is resolved. • Requirement that the projects’ property management will immediately contact PBCA staff if a property has a life-threatening or non-life-threatening health and safety issue and report when the issue is resolved.

Establish and implement a process to ensure that The Office of Multifamily Housing Programs’ policies, procedures, and supervisory controls are effective. This process should include addressing postdisaster damage assessments, properly updating iREMS, and executing loan forbearances. This process should also integrate with other HUD program offices as appropriate to improve consistency with HUD’s overall disaster response and to ensure the effectiveness of disaster controls.

Establish and implement a process to ensure that the Office of Single Family Housing’s policies, procedures, and supervisory controls are effective. This process should address the proper use, maintenance, and reporting of gathered information on disaster-damaged properties as well as the proper assessment of properties with appropriate disaster codes. This process should also integrate with other HUD program offices as appropriate to improve consistency with HUD’s overall disaster response and to ensure the effectiveness of disaster controls.

Update the current Multifamily radon policy to ensure that program activities comply with the departmentwide policy on radon testing and mitigation requirements.

The OIG has determined that the contents of this recommendation would not be appropriate for public disclosure and has therefore limited its distribution to selected officials.

The OIG has determined that the contents of this recommendation would not be appropriate for public disclosure and has therefore limited its distribution to selected officials.

The OIG has determined that the contents of this recommendation would not be appropriate for public disclosure and has therefore limited its distribution to selected officials.

Develop and implement a strategy to review Multifamily-funded properties with potential contamination to determine whether site contamination should be considered in future environmental reviews.

Monitor environmental reviews of Multifamily-funded properties with potential contamination.

Require lenders to provide evidence of sufficient flood insurance or execute indemnification agreements for the 43 loans in our statistical sample that did not have sufficient flood insurance at the time of our audit to put nearly $5.2 million to better use.

Add to FHA databases the information necessary to ensure that the required flood insurance is in place at loan origination, including flood zone, flood insurance type, flood insurance amount, and site value of the property, and include system checks that prevent endorsement of loans without the required flood insurance to put at least $432.6 million to better use by avoiding potential future costs to the FHA insurance fund.

Implement the requirements of HUD’s current Debt Collection Handbook, to include (1) assigning a program office manager, (2) developing and implementing debt collection standard operating procedures, (3) designating program action officials, and (4) ensuring that program action officials are trained and perform debt collection duties in a timely manner in accordance with the Debt Collection Handbook; HUD Handbook 2000.06, REV-4, Audits Management System; and other pertinent guidance and policies to ensure the accurate reporting of receivables in the general ledger.

Review all executed repayment agreements in HUD’s Tenant Rental Assistance Certification System (TRACS) to determine which repayment agreements have not been fully repaid and represent an amount owed to HUD and work with OCFO to record these receivables.

Include a field in TRACS to identify which repayment agreements represent an amount owed to HUD and implement controls to ensure the accuracy of the listing in TRACS.

Develop and implement controls to track and enforce repayments owed to HUD to ensure that owners are not delinquent on their repayment agreements.

Adequately notify homeowners that, due to COVID-19, all FHA refund applications and supporting documents should be sent electronically to avoid delay in processing. This process should include (1) developing and expediting implementation of correspondence sent to homeowners with the application, (2) a notice of operational changes on HUD’s FHA refunds websites, (3) ensuring that HUD’s Does HUD Owe You a Refund website is updated to the most recent FHA Homeowners Fact Sheet, (4) an updated voice message from the call center including an accurate email, and (5) developing an updated script for call center agents for the initial contact with the homeowner, follow up, and contact with homeowners who already submitted their application by mail.

Conduct a privacy impact assessment for accepting homeowner FHA refund applications and supporting documentation that contain PII electronically to identify potential risks and develop and implement plans to mitigate those risks.