At the request of two United States senators, we initiated an audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) administration of the Housing Authority of New Orleans (Authority) to determine the effect of HUD's receivership on the Authority's performance. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether HUD had taken action to improve the Authority's post-Hurricane Katrina performance while under HUD receivership by determining whether HUD had an adequate recovery plan to return the Authority to local control and adequately monitored the Authority while under receivership.

HUD could not demonstrate that its receivership improved the Authority's performance following Hurricane Katrina because it did not establish a clear chain of command for the receivership or require periodic reporting after it took over the Authority in 2002. HUD did not properly monitor the Authority or, until recently, ensure that the receivers had an adequate recovery plan. Further, it was unclear how HUD intended to guide the Authority while under receivership after the last formal memorandum of agreement expired in 2003.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Field Operations, establish an organizational structure for receivership that outlines responsible officials and their duties and appoint a monitoring team, independent of the receiver, to ensure that the Authority progresses toward local control. In addition, the Deputy Assistant Secretary should have the monitoring team consistently review and verify documentation pertaining to the Authority's progress and ensure that the Authority meets the target dates in the strategic improvement plan that it implemented in July 2008.