The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) leads and coordinates the Nation’s drug policy to improve the health and lives of the American people, including the development and implementation of the National Drug Control Strategy (the Strategy).  ONDCP evaluates the effectiveness of national drug control policy efforts, the Strategy’s goals and objectives, and each National Drug Control Program Agency’s program-level measures.…

In an effort to increase transparency and accountability in the use of Federal funding in program activities, Federal law and guidance requires the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and its prime recipients to ensure that complete and accurate subaward data is posted on USASpending.gov.  We audited HUD to determine whether the prime award recipients of HUD funding met all of the Federal Funding Accountability and…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program offices issued departmental notices to inform public housing agencies (PHA) and owners of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021’s (the Act) requirements.  In addition, HUD program offices planned to use HUD’s revised physical inspection processes to ensure that PHAs and owners complied with the Act, namely under its new National Standards for the Physical Inspection…

While conducting an ongoing audit of the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s (Authority) management of lead-based paint hazards in its public housing units, we identified a significant gap in HUD’s program requirements related to safe work practices, which we believe requires immediate action by HUD.  We identified that the Authority determined a substantial percentage of maintenance and hazard reduction work performed on surfaces with lead-…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) efforts to meet the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (the Act).Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD met the 13 responsibilities stated in the Act with regard to its collection, production, acquisition, maintenance, distribution, use, and preservation of geospatial data.  The Act also generally requires covered agencies provide access to geospatial data and…

In February 2021, the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) identified funding risks with the development contract under which HUD contracted for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Catalyst’s development.  In response, HUD officials took steps to slow FHA Catalyst spending on the contract while awaiting approval for additional contract funds.  Despite efforts to slow project spending, it was not enough to prevent funding…

HUD does not have a departmentwide policy for dealing with radon contamination.  Instead, HUD relies on each program office to develop radon policies that align with HUD’s environmental regulations.  The three program offices reviewed do not have consistent radon policies.  Only Multifamily’s radon policy includes radon testing and mitigation requirements.  PIH’s policy strongly encourages but does not require public housing…

The West Calumet Housing Complex (WCHC), located in East Chicago, IN, was a public housing development that opened in 1972 on top of a former lead smelting plant.  HUD and other agencies missed multiple opportunities to identify site contamination at WCHC.  As a result, WCHC residents continued living in unsafe conditions for decades, and inadequate oversight led to the lead poisoning of children in WCHC.  Between 2005 and 2015,…

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s effort to provide oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) relief efforts provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), we reviewed HUD’s communication to renters regarding the eviction moratorium found in Section 4024.  The objective of our review was to highlight the progress HUD has made and identify areas for improvement.…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research’s implementation of the responsibilities stated in the Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (The Act).  We performed this review in response to a congressional mandate that HUD’s geospatial data be audited at least once every 2 years.  The Act requires that we audit HUD’s collection, production, acquisition, maintenance,…

We completed a risk assessment of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) grant closeout process as required by the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency (GONE) Act of 2016, Public Law 114-117.  Our objective was to determine whether an audit or review of HUD’s grant closeout process was warranted.  We found that a moderate risk was associated with HUD’s grant closeout process and recommend that a full audit be…

In violation of the housing assistance payment contract’s conflict-of-interest requirements, the former executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Beeville, TX, executed housing assistance payment contracts on behalf of the Authority with her brother and sister.  The former executive director did not fully disclose the conflicts-of-interest and had not sought a waiver from HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing until the…

On April 17, 2018, the Office of Program Enforcement issued a letter stating that it had reached a resolution under a Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act of 1986[1] case regarding Summit Bradford Apartments located in Tulsa, OK, following its review.  The Government alleged that the owner submitted 40 false claims under the Act.  The Office of Program Enforcement included with its letter the March 28, 2018, settlement agreement with BSR…

We conducted an attestation review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Special Needs Assistance Continuum of Care Program, regarding reporting of drug control accounting and associated management assertions for fiscal year 2017.  The objective of our attestation review was to and to provide negative assurance on HUD’s drug control accounting reporting to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (…

We received a referral from the Quality Assurance Division of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Philadelphia Homeownership Center concerning a borrower who allegedly made false statements to obtain Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance.  The borrower provided false and conflicting employment and income information, which was used in originating and obtaining an FHA loan.  Further, the…

We conducted an attestation review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Special Needs Assistance Continuum of Care Program, regarding drug control accounting and associated management assertions for fiscal year 2016.  The objective of our attestation review was to evaluate HUD’s financial reporting and assertions for drug control funds to determine if its reporting was in compliance with regulations and…

Twenty-two Promise Zones were selected through three rounds of national competition. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), oversees 14 urban Promise Zones, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees 8 rural and tribal Promise Zones. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) tasked HUD and USDA to lead the Promise Zone initiative and play essential roles in gathering information about progress in Promise Zones…

This report is for informational purposes only and does not represent an OIG perspective or position. The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act was designed to bring an orderly and systematic means of Federal disaster assistance for State and local governments to carry out their responsibilities to aid citizens.  Although, State and local governments may carry out their responsibilities in an orderly and…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program and found that 33 borrowers had more than 1 loan under the program.  Having multiple loans violated program requirements because HUD requires borrowers to reside in the mortgaged residence as their principal residence and borrowers may not have more than one principal residence at a time.  We referred…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program and found that 33 borrowers had more than 1 loan under the program.  Having multiple loans violated program requirements because HUD requires borrowers to reside in the mortgaged residence as their principal residence and borrowers may not have more than one principal residence at a time.  We referred…