Public Housing: HUD's Oversight of Housing Agencies Should Focus More on Inappropriate Use of Program Funds

摘要

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided over $6.7 billion in fiscal year 2008 to housing agencies to operate, modernize, and develop about 1.2 million public housing units. It is important that HUD exercise sufficient oversight of housing agencies to help ensure that public housing funds are being used as intended and properly managed. In this report, GAO examines HUD's oversight processes for detecting housing agencies at risk of inappropriate use and mismanagement of public housing funds. GAO analyzed HUD financial data on about 3,300 housing agencies, compared HUD's oversight policies with program and agency objectives, and interviewed agency officials. Key HUD oversight processes could be more focused on identifying potential inappropriate use or mismanagement of public housing funds. HUD primarily relies on single audits to identify such problems, although HUD, its Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (now known as the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency) have identified weaknesses with some audits. Further, even when these audits do identify issues, HUD does not systematically summarize audit findings to identify and understand emerging and persistent issues to better monitor housing agencies for inappropriate use and mismanagement of public housing funds. Without fully leveraging the audit and financial information it collects, the department limits its ability to identify housing agencies that are at greater risk of inappropriately using or mismanaging program funds.