The memo explains that 24 recommendations from previous years remain open, while seven new ones have been added.
Solving these 31 recommendations in particular would affect the ability of the department to limit waste and fraud, could have a positive influence on living conditions for those who live in Hud-assisted housing and also improve the current efforts of HUD’s current technology modernization efforts.
Fraud, counterparty risk
At the top of the list of the memo is reducing the fraud risk. A main recommendation is that HUD “performs a complete fraud risks of all programs and use the results to develop and implement an agency -wide plan to reduce those risks.
Incorrect payments to the largest subsidy programs of the department must also be tackled, according to the memo.
“The OIG has established that HUD has been unable to have the amount of potential incorrect and unknown payments in his PIH -Renter -based rental assistant (TBRA) program and the Multifamily Housing Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program (PBRA) program (PBRA) program.
“These are the two largest program expenditure in Hud’s portfolio, which represents about 62% of HUD’s total expenditure, and the two programs that run the most risk are incorrect payments.”
In the last year that the Department reported a conforming estimate for these programs, 2016, when payments to them amounted to a total of $ 30.7 billion. $ 1.7 billion of that amount was wrongly estimated at the time.
The OIG has also recommended that the protection of whistleblowers will be strengthened because those who work as contractors, subcontractors, beneficiaries and subgrantees “play a crucial role in identifying fraud, waste and abuse in HUD programs.”
The mitigation of counterparty risks must also be a priority for the department, De Oig said, because of the importance of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) ‘s mortgage insurance programs.
‘[FHA] trust mortgage lenders and serviceers, or counterparties, to provide loans to eligible borrowers and to service providers in accordance with HUD’s requirements, “said the memo.
“In 2014, 2018 and 2019, OIG has recommended that FHA improve various internal checks to better prevent non-intended borrowers with delinquent federal debt by obtaining HUD insured mortgage loans.”
This would help “keep billions of dollars in mortgage loans from the FHA insurance fund and to reduce the risk that losses on the loans influence taxpayers.”
Health and Safety, Technology
The department also remains confronted with “important challenges” in promoting health and safety practices within HUD-supported rental properties, De Oig said.
“From 2020 to 2023, the OIG made eight recommendations for health and safety priority that HUD has not yet tackled”, including those “encouraged HUD to take steps to lead the exposure of tenants to lead dangers in assisted housing,” the memo explained.
The OIG recommends that HUD requires owners of real estate that they document their compliance with lead control practices; Implement a lower “intervention threshold” when lead is detected in the blood of a child; Implement an action plan for supervision of lead in multifamilie properties; and “grab potential causes of abnormalities” when reporting lead poisoning to the authorities of social housing (PHAs).
IT modernization and improved purchasing practices are also mentioned as open recommendations of priority.
De OIG heeft consequent aanbevolen dat de afdeling actie onderneemt om de infrastructuur voor informatiebeveiliging te verbeteren “om gevoelige HUD -systemen en gegevens beter te beschermen, inclusief het vereisen van het gebruik van multifactor -authenticatie, het blokkeren van ongeoorloofde software en besturingssystemen van het uitvoeren van HUD’s Network en het verbeteren van de naleving van HUD met cybersecurity en supply chain -Risk management programs. “
This year, an additional technology recommendation is aimed at protecting sensitive, private data in HUD IT systems. This is something that the Oig has sounded several times in recent years.
