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Open Recommendations (78 total)

Information Technology: HUD Can Take Additional Actions to Improve Its Governance

GAO-15-56
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Priority Rec.
To establish an enterprise-wide view of cost savings and operational efficiencies generated by investments and governance processes, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should direct the Deputy Secretary and Chief Information Officer to place a higher priority on identifying governance-related cost savings and efficiencies and establish and institutionalize a process for identifying and tracking comprehensive, high-quality data on savings and efficiencies resulting from IT investments and the IT governance process.
Open
The department has taken steps to address this recommendation. Specifically, in April 2016, HUD provided examples of cost savings that the department had identified by "scrubbing" existing contracts during the budget formulation process, along with copies of a template that it designed and used to help identify such savings. In May 2018, department officials provided a demonstration of the HUD PLUS tool, including screens staff could use to report cost savings and avoidances related to specific projects--although they reported that HUD was not yet using that functionality. In April 2019, OCIO reported that HUD was updating its governance process and charters to ensure that executive-level decision making will be clearly defined. OCIO also reported an intent to implement Technology Business Management (TBM) to, among other things, improve and expand the tracking of investments. HUD expects these two efforts to facilitate better tracking of the savings and efficiencies resulting from IT decisions. As of March 2021, HUD was working to finalize a cost savings process planned to start in April 2021. The department was also continuing to develop a TBM implementation plan. In February 2022, HUD reported plans to build on the governance process to establish efficiency as a HUD IT priority and to collect quarterly data on IT-related cost-savings. In November 2022, HUD reported that its governance boards had begun considering whether IT investments were designed to deliver operational value to programs or the agency as a whole. Adding such criteria to the IT selection process provides a starting point for considering the savings or efficiencies investments may generate. However, as of January 2023, HUD had not yet begun tracking expected or actual cost savings or efficiencies for individual investments or from its IT governance processes. HUD has not yet provided evidence that it has established guidance supporting a repeatable process for tracking enterprise-wide IT related cost savings and operational efficiencies, including those related to HUD's governance decisions.

IT Modernization: HUD Needs to Improve Its Estimation and Oversight Practices for Single-Family Housing

GAO-21-459
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) should direct the Federal Housing Administration and the Office of the Chief Information Officer to develop, and ensure the implementation of, schedule guidance that incorporates the best practices called for in the GAO Schedule Guide. (Recommendation 5)
Open
HUD agreed with the recommendation and in a November 2021 update stated that there were efforts underway to address the recommendation. Specifically, HUD intended to improve its schedule estimation and ensure leading practices are followed for any new FHA Catalyst contract. In October 2022, HUD reported that it has taken steps to address this recommendation. Specifically, an IV&V contract was awarded to assist with schedule estimation and ensuring leading practices are followed. Additional efforts are underway and expected to be completed by 5/31/2023. We will continue to monitor the implementation of this recommendation.

HUD Rental Assistance: Enhanced Data and Strategy Could Improve Oversight of Accessibility Requirements

GAO-23-105083
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of HUD should ensure the Assistant Secretaries for the Offices of Public and Indian Housing and Multifamily Housing Programs systematically collect and maintain data on household requests for reasonable accommodations, including structural modifications, and the status of these requests in the Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, and Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance programs. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In September 2023, HUD stated it was committed to improving the operation and oversight of its rental assistance programs. To do so, HUD said it would consider several options including improving the collection and reporting of data related to the needs of persons with disabilities.

Manufactured Housing: Further HUD Action is Needed to Increase Available Loan Products

GAO-23-105615
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should ensure that the President of Ginnie Mae implement planned changes to provide additional financing options for manufactured homes, including identifying options for greater securitization of manufactured home mortgages and personal property loans and establishing time frames and milestones for the actions. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Real Estate Assessment Center: HUD Should Improve Physical Inspection Process and Oversight of Inspectors

GAO-19-254
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Real Estate Assessment Center should resume calculating the sampling error associated with the physical inspection score for each property, identify what changes may be needed for HUD to use sampling error results, and consider those results when determining whether more frequent inspections or enforcement actions are needed. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

IT Modernization: HUD Needs to Improve Its Estimation and Oversight Practices for Single-Family Housing

GAO-21-459
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) should direct the Federal Housing Administration and the Office of the Chief Information Officer to revise the FHA Catalyst schedule estimate according to the newly developed guidance. (Recommendation 6)
Open
HUD agreed with the recommendation and in a November 2021 update stated that there were efforts underway to address the recommendation. Specifically, HUD intended to improve its schedule estimation and ensuring leading practices are followed for any new FHA Catalyst contract. In October 2022, HUD reported that it has taken steps to address this recommendation. Specifically, an IV&V contract was awarded to assist with schedule estimation and ensuring leading practices are followed. Additional efforts are underway and expected to be completed by 5/31/2023. We will continue to monitor the implementation of this recommendation.
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) should direct the Federal Housing Administration and the Office of the Chief Information Officer to improve oversight practices for FHA Catalyst to ensure that they fully address leading practices for planning for program oversight and assessing program performance, including, but not limited to those for establishing processes, outlining responsibilities, requiring metrics for Agile performance, and balancing periodic program-wide assessments with monitoring progress. (Recommendation 7)
Open
HUD agreed with the recommendation and in a November 2021 update stated that there were efforts underway to address the recommendation. Specifically, HUD intended to implement improvements for each of the four program oversight areas. For example, the agency planned to ensure that documented policies are followed and updated to incorporate improvements. In addition, HUD planned to ensure that all projects are appropriately staffed and supported. In October 2022, HUD reported that it has taken steps to address this recommendation. Specifically, an IV&V contract was awarded to assist with ensuring leading practices are followed. Additional efforts are underway and expected to be completed by 5/31/2023. We will continue to monitor the implementation of this recommendation.

HUD Rental Assistance: Enhanced Data and Strategy Could Improve Oversight of Accessibility Requirements

GAO-23-105083
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of HUD should ensure the Assistant Secretaries for the Offices of Public and Indian Housing, Multifamily Housing Programs, and Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity develop and implement a strategy for overseeing HUD-assisted housing providers' compliance with reasonable accommodation requirements in its rental assistance programs. Such a strategy could consider how to effectively collect and use household data to identify compliance risks among housing providers. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In September 2023, HUD stated it was committed to improving the operation and oversight of its rental assistance programs. To do so, HUD said it would consider several options including improving program monitoring, evaluation, and oversight of federally subsidized housing providers' compliance with reasonable accommodation requirements in its rental assistance programs.

Cybersecurity: Federal Agencies Made Progress, but Need to Fully Implement Incident Response Requirements

GAO-24-105658
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should ensure that the agency fully implements all event logging requirements as directed by OMB guidance. (Recommendation 7)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Rental Housing: Improvements Needed to Better Monitor the Moving to Work Demonstration, Including Effects on Tenants

GAO-18-150
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Assistant Secretary for PIH should identify and implement changes to PIC to capture household data for households served through local, nontraditional activities. (Recommendation 4)
Open
In May 2023, HUD officials stated that HUD planned to add fields for capturing data on households served through local, nontraditional activities to the next generation of PIC. HUD officials said they expect expansion MTW agencies to begin reporting this information by the summer of 2023. In addition, in November 2022, HUD published on its website a spreadsheet presenting data for the 39 existing MTW agencies on the number of households served through local, nontraditional activities.
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