We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations provide training and guidance to field office program staff on SEMAP scoring, rating, and verification procedures, including confirmatory reviews, quality control reviews, and adjustments, as appropriate, for the revised SEMAP Read More

Implement written procedures to ensure consistency among field offices in reviewing spending issues, potentially preventing up to an estimated $47 million in annual CoC recaptures.

Design and implement a training program and other development tools to help grantees. The goal of such training would be to provide ideas and other development tools to help the CoCs better provide assistance with implementation of their grants and monitoring of their grantees, including Read More

Evaluate the risk that employee benefit contributions expensed at PHAs may be unreasonable and, if determined necessary, establish and implement controls to reduce or eliminate the evaluated risk.

Develop and implement additional guidance to ensure that PHAs enter accurate employee benefit data into FASS-PH.

Revise HUD’s asset management fee policy to refederalize the Operating Fund program’s management and bookkeeping fees and the Capital Fund program’s management fees.

HUD should remove the provision that allows public housing authorities to charge asset management fees, which would ensure that at least $81.6 million in operating funds could be put to better use in meeting HUD program objectives.

Establish and implement procedures to reassess the management and bookkeeping fees periodically to ensure that they are reasonable. HUD should retain the documentation justifying the calculation of the rates.

Develop, document, and implement written procedures to ensure that fees charged to the asset management projects and Capital Fund program and expenses from the central office cost center are used to support HUD’s mission.

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling identify additional housing counseling agencies that were classified as reapproved when it had not completed a performance review upon expiration of the approved period and determine whether they are properly qualified to Read More

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling obtain and provide documentation for the four housing counseling agency reapprovals and the three housing counseling agency voucher approvals to show that the $1,310,719 in Housing Counseling Grant funds5 disbursed was for Read More

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling update its policies and procedures to ensure consistency and adequacy of the agency approval, performance review, voucher approval, and termination and posttermination processes. Specifically, the updates should ensure that Read More

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling ensure that the new Housing Counseling Agency Management System provides HUD with the ability to adequately oversee the work of its staff and track important housing counseling agency milestones, including HUD approval Read More

Establish and implement procedures to reassess the safe harbor percentage and rates periodically to ensure that they are reasonable. HUD should retain the documentation justifying the calculation of those percentages and rates. In addition, HUD should assess the feasibility of requiring the Read More

Support the eligibility of more than $4,187,560 in unsupported costs or require the grantees to repay the U.S. Treasury from non-Federal funds.

Require one grantee to repay the U.S. Treasury $343,000 from non-Federal funds for ineligible program costs incurred for the project identified in this report.

Ensure that future policies and guidance developed to return HUD’s offices to normal operations include the specific criteria, metrics, and defined geographic area to be used by all offices as applicable.

Develop and implement sufficient policies and controls to ensure that (1) applicable criteria in any future guidance are met and all safety measures are sufficiently completed before returning HUD’s offices to normal operations and (2) sufficient documentation is maintained to support that the Read More

Obtain the required depository agreements for two5 grantees to ensure that they invest program funds in investment securities for use in carrying out affordable housing activities in accordance with PIH Notices 2014-21, section 4, and 2015-08, section 7.

Strengthen monitoring controls to ensure that current and future grantees maintain the required depository agreements before allowing them to invest program funds in investment securities for use toward affordable housing activities.