We audited the Boston Housing Authority’s public housing program to determine whether the physical condition of the Authority’s program units complied with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and the Authority’s requirements.  The audit was initiated based on our assessment of risks associated with public housing agencies’ program units and recent media attention and public concern about the condition of subsidized housing properties.

HUD’s Office of Housing contracts with performance-based contract administrators to administer the housing assistance payments (HAP) contract with owners.  Through RAD, HUD oversees the HAP contracts for converted properties and monitors owners for compliance with HUD’s requirements, which include maintaining (1) units in decent, safe, and sanitary condition and (2) reserve for replacement accounts to help defray the cost of replacing properties’ capital items.

The purpose of this memorandum is to alert the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to an issue that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), has identified that affects the timeliness with which public housing agencies (PHA) with units that have lead-based paint are performing required lead-based paint visual assessments.

We audited the Boston Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program.  We initiated this audit based upon our assessment of risks associated with public housing agencies' HCV Program units, as well as recent media attention and public concern about the conditions of subsidized housing properties.  Our objective was to determine whether the physical conditions of the Authority’s HCV units complied with both the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and the Authority’s requirements.

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles’ management of lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in its public housing units.  We selected the Authority based on our assessment of the risks of lead‐based paint in public housing agencies’ (PHA) housing developments, including the age of buildings, the number of units, household demographics, and reported cases of childhood lead poisoning.  The audit objectives were to determine whether the Authority (1) complied with HUD’s requirements for children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLL) and (2) adequat

We audited the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s management of lead‐based paint in its public housing program based on our assessment of the risks of lead‐based paint in public housing.  The risk factors assessed included the age of buildings, the number of units, household demographics, and reported cases of childhood lead poisoning.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the Authority (1) complied with HUD’s requirements for children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLL) and (2) adequately managed lead‐based paint and lead‐based paint hazards in its public hous

We audited the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program.  The audit was initiated based on our assessment of risks associated with public housing agencies’ HCV Program units and recent media attention and public concern about the conditions of subsidized housing properties.  Our objective was to determine whether the physical condition of the Authority’s HCV Program units complied with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and its own requirements.

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of multifamily housing properties with failing Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) scores or life-threatening exigent health and safety (EHS) deficiencies.  Our objective was to determine whether HUD had effective oversight of multifamily housing properties to ensure that the properties were maintained in decent, safe, and sanitary condition.

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-based paint in its public housing units was “de minimis”, or minor.  The Authority’s determinations exem