Support that $1,236,210 in funds not yet spent on the contracts reviewed, along with any new procurements, would be reasonable or reallocate the funds to ensure that they will be put to their intended use

Review any ongoing time-and-materials contracts and if requirements were not followed, remedy the noncompliance or reprocure the contracts to ensure compliance with HUD requirements.

Ensure that all Authority staff members working with procurements and contract administration receive procurement training on applicable requirements, including the requirements related to cost reasonableness, contract types, the number of bids or quotations, contract provisions, and maintaining documentation to show the history of procurements.

Establish and implement adequate record-keeping procedures to comply with applicable procurement requirements, including a register of all contracts with key information and a checklist for each procurement action, to ensure that it completes required steps and receives all required documentation.

Require lenders to provide evidence of sufficient flood insurance or execute indemnification agreements for the 21 loans in our statistical sample that did not have sufficient flood insurance at the time of our audit to put nearly $1.1 million to better use. (See appendix A.)

Develop a control to detect loans that did not maintain the required flood insurance to put $1.5 billion to better use by avoiding potential future costs to the FHA insurance fund from inadequately insured properties.

Corrective Action Taken

In November 2022, FHA published the Acceptance of Private Flood Insurance for FHA-Insured Mortgages final rule (Docket No. FR-6084-F-02) in the Federal Register and issued Mortgagee Letter 2022-18, Acceptance of Private Flood Insurance for FHA-Insured Mortgages (ML 2022-18). These policy changes not only strengthened Single Family’s Mortgagee requirements regarding flood insurance, but they also introduced the ability for borrowers and Mortgagees to purchase private flood insurance. In January 2023, the sections in ML 2022-18 that pertain to HUD’s forward mortgage programs were superseded by the FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook (Handbook 4000.1), adding a requirement that the Mortgagee review all FHA-insured properties annually to determine if the property is located within a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). For properties located within a SFHA, the Mortgagee must ensure flood insurance is in force for the life of the mortgage and that the property has sufficient flood insurance coverage. To ensure compliance with the policy requirements, the Mortgagee must include updated flood insurance information for properties where flood insurance is required in the Servicing and Claims File. In addition, Handbook 4000.1 includes flood insurance servicing policy updates. HUD submitted a revised management decision reflecting this action on June 22, 2023.

Consult with the Office of General Counsel to review the language in the statutes, regulations, and handbooks and if warranted, make adjustments to the forward mortgage handbook to ensure consistency with the statute.

Consult with the Office of General Counsel to review the language in the statutes, regulations, and handbooks and if warranted, make adjustments to the HECM handbook to ensure consistency with the statute and regulation.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing and Voucher Programs update its compliance monitoring guidance to include a requirement for personnel to review PHAs reasonable accommodations policies and procedures.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing and Voucher Programs update and consolidate requests for reasonable accommodation policies and procedures to ensure that there is centralized guidance available for the field offices and PHAs.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing and Voucher Programs conduct additional outreach efforts to educate tenants and PHAs on their rights and responsibilities related to requests for reasonable accommodation, including technical assistance, webinars, and external communications to inform PHAs about their responsibilities and how to evaluate requests for reasonable accommodation, and help families understand their rights.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing and Voucher Programs require that PHAs track requests for reasonable accommodation, including the date of the request, the type of request, and the disposition and date of any action taken that should be made available to HUD at its request.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing and Voucher Programs review the joint agreement between HUD PIH and FHEO, including the Section 504 checklist, and modify, update, or recommit to it to ensure that the role of PIH and the responsibility for conducting civil rights front-end reviews is clearly defined.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Housing and Voucher Programs ensure that personnel receive training on how to conduct the civil rights front-end reviews, including a review of PHAs reasonable accommodation policies and procedures.

Work with the Authority to determine whether the buildings represent an imminent threat to public safety from physical deterioration and whether activities to control the situation would be exempt under the Part 58 environmental review process or excluded under the Part 50 environmental review process. If it qualifies, require the Authority to immediately take actions necessary to control the imminent threat to public safety before the full environmental review is done.

Determine whether it would be beneficial for HUD to conduct a Part 50 environmental review of the development or if the Authority should conduct a Part 58 environmental review, and implement the decision to ensure that the environmental review is conducted as soon as possible as required under the action plan.

Continue to provide training and technical assistance to ensure that the Authority understands relevant requirements for the various asset repositioning options, including milestone and disposition requirements.

Provide certifications and supporting documentation to show that it has identified and addressed urgent health and safety issues at the development, such as flooded stairwells, accessible crawlspaces, and unsecured windows and doors.

Develop and implement a plan to routinely identify and address recurring urgent health and safety issues such as flooded stairwells, accessible crawlspaces, and unsecured windows and doors while the property remains vacant and throughout future asset repositioning efforts.

Develop and implement a plan to use available asset repositioning options for the remaining 284 public housing units at the Commodore Perry Homes development, including 274 dwelling units and 10 nondwelling units.