We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of lead-based paint reporting and remediation in its public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2017 annual audit plan. The audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate oversight of lead‐based paint reporting and remediation in its public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs.
HUD lacked adequate oversight of lead-based paint reporting and remediation in its public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs. Specifically, it did not (1) ensure that public housing agencies appropriately reported and mitigated cases involving children with environmental intervention blood lead levels (EIBLL) in its public housing program, (2) establish policies and procedures for public housing agencies to report a child with an EIBLL who resided in a household assisted under its Housing Choice Voucher program and ensure that identified lead hazards had been mitigated, and (3) ensure that public housing agencies completed required lead-based paint inspections. In addition, for housing built after 1977, HUD did not require public housing agencies to report and mitigate cases involving children with EIBLLs residing in public or assisted housing. As a result, HUD lacked assurance that public housing agencies properly identified and mitigated lead hazards, thus increasing the potential of exposing children to lead poisoning due to unsafe living conditions.
We recommend that the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing to (1) update HUD’s regulations to expand the inspection and abatement requirements of 24 CFR Part 35 to housing completed after 1977 in cases in which a child with an elevated blood lead level is reported and (2) implement adequate procedures and controls to ensure that public housing agencies comply with the lead safe requirements.
Recommendations
Public and Indian Housing
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Status2018-CH-0002-001-AOpenClosedClosed on April 22, 2020
Obtain documentation from the remaining 55 potential cases (34 cases in the public housing program 21 cases in the Housing Choice Voucher program) reported by the public housing agencies that failed to provide supporting documentation to determine compliance with HUD’s requirements.
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Status2018-CH-0002-001-BOpenClosedClosed on April 22, 2020
Obtain documentation from the remaining 195 potential cases involving children with EIBLLs reported by the public housing agencies (35 reported cases in the public housing program 160 reported cases in the Housing Choice Voucher program) that we did not review during the audit to determine whether the public housing agencies and owners, as applicable, complied with HUD’s requirements or whether action is required under the requirements.
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Status2018-CH-0002-001-COpenClosedClosed on April 22, 2020
Require the public housing agencies to support that the lead hazards were appropriately abated for the 11 cases (3 public housing program 8 Housing Choice Voucher program) that lacked adequate clearance reports or lacked documentation showing that the identified lead hazards had been corrected.
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Status2018-CH-0002-001-DOpenClosedClosed on August 13, 2019
Ensure that the owners for the two Housing Choice Voucher program units, in which the families were relocated and abatement was not performed, do not provide housing for families with children under 6 years of age until the lead hazards are abated.
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Status2018-CH-0002-001-EOpenClosedClosed on April 22, 2020
Obtain documentation of a lead-based paint inspection or exemption for the 222 public housing developments that failed to provide evidence of compliance with HUD’s lead-based paint inspection requirements.
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Status2018-CH-0002-001-FOpenClosedClosed on April 28, 2022
Work with the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes to update HUD’s regulations to expand the inspection and abatement requirements of 24 CFR Part 35 to housing completed after 1977 in cases in which a child with an elevated blood lead level is reported.
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Status2018-CH-0002-001-GOpenClosedClosed on April 22, 2020
Implement adequate procedures and controls at HUD’s field offices to ensure that requirements of 24 CFR Part 35 are followed by public housing agencies, including monitoring the public housing agencies to ensure that required actions are appropriately completed and performed in a timely manner.