As part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan, we audited HUD’s controls over the Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP). Our objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate controls to ensure that SEMAP effectively assessed public housing agencies’ Section 8 administration.

HUD had not developed adequate controls to ensure that SEMAP would be effective in identifying underperforming agencies. It did not establish and maintain an effective system of management controls to provide reasonable assurance that agencies administered the Section 8 program to help eligible families afford decent rental units at the correct subsidy cost. In addition, the field offices visited during the review performed SEMAP requirements inconsistently. As a result, SEMAP’s objective of identifying underperforming agencies was not always achieved. HUD recognized weaknesses in the program and planned to improve SEMAP’s controls, including implementation of the Office of Public Housing and Voucher Programs’ Next Generation Management System and the Office of Field Operations’ Portfolio Management Tool.

We recommend that HUD develop and implement improved controls over SEMAP as it currently exists. These controls should reduce HUD’s reliance on self-certified agency data and annual audit reports. We also recommend that HUD improve its controls over how field offices perform program requirements.