Housing Assistance: Opportunities Exist to Increase Collaboration and Consider Consolidation
Highlights
What GAO Found
Housing assistance is fragmented across 160 programs and activities. Overlap exists for some products offered, service delivery, and geographic areas served by selected programs—particularly in the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) and Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA). For instance, RHS, FHA, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) all guarantee mortgage loans for homeowners. According to fiscal year 2009 data (the most recent available), FHA served a larger number of households than RHS in all areas, including a larger number of low- and moderate-income households in rural areas. Although selected HUD, USDA, and Department of the Treasury (Treasury) multifamily programs had overlapping purposes, the products, areas served, and delivery methods differed. For example, HUD, RHS, and Treasury provide financing for development and rehabilitation of multifamily housing for low- and moderate-income households, but RHS-financed properties were more concentrated in rural areas and HUD’s and Treasury’s tax credit properties were more concentrated in urban and suburban areas.
Opportunities exist to increase collaboration among the agencies and potentially realize efficiencies. In February 2011, the Administration announced a task force to evaluate the potential for coordinating or consolidating homeownership loan programs at HUD, USDA, and VA. But the task force’s efforts have not yet incorporated key collaborative practices GAO identified. Practices such as identifying goals and resources and defining strategies and outcomes will be important as the task force moves forward. HUD, USDA, and Treasury also have been working to consolidate and align requirements in rental housing programs through the Rental Policy Working Group. Although its efforts have been consistent with many key collaborative practices, the group has not taken full advantage of opportunities to reinforce agency accountability for collaborative efforts through the agencies’ annual and strategic plans, or expanded its guiding principles to evaluate areas requiring statutory action to generate savings and efficiencies. Also, in 2005 and in 2011, GAO recommended coordinating reviews of tax expenditures and related spending programs. Such reviews could help reduce overlap and inconsistencies and direct scarce resources to the most effective or efficient methods to deliver federal support.
Consolidating programs carries certain implications for users, existing programs, personnel, portfolios, and associated information systems. Nevertheless, GAO suggested in 2000 that Congress consider requiring USDA and HUD to examine the benefits and costs of merging programs serving similar markets and providing similar products. Since then, certain aspects of the RHS and FHA homeownership programs have shown evidence of growing similarity, such as RHS’ shift toward loan guarantees. However, the current statutory framework imposes additional challenges on the agencies’ ability to further consolidate similar programs. Thus, any evaluations of which programs, products, systems, and processes to retain, revise, consolidate, or eliminate would involve complex analyses, trade-offs, and difficult policy decisions. The task force offers opportunities for these agencies to identify potential areas for consolidation or greater coordination and which actions would require statutory change.
Why GAO Did This Study
The federal government plays a major role in providing housing assistance to homebuyers, renters, and state and local governments. It incurred about $170 billion in obligations for federal assistance and estimated forgone tax revenue in fiscal year 2010. However, fiscal realities raise questions about the efficiency of multiple housing programs and activities across federal agencies with similar goals, products, and sometimes parallel delivery systems. This report assesses the (1) extent to which there is overlap or fragmentation in selected housing programs, (2) federal collaborative efforts, and (3) implications of consolidating selected housing programs.
For this report, GAO updated and expanded prior work and collected and analyzed new data, focusing on the largest programs in terms of funding. In addition to addressing these objectives, GAO developed a catalog of federal programs and activities that support rental housing and homeownership and identified what is known about the purpose, cost, eligibility, and populations served. The catalog (GAO-12-555SP) is an electronic supplement to this report.
Recommendations
To enhance evaluation of coordination or consolidation of single-family programs, HUD, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), USDA, and VA should adopt a more rigorous approach for their task force that incorporates collaborative practices. To further improve initiatives to consolidate and align requirements in multifamily programs, HUD, USDA, and Treasury should document their efforts in annual and strategic plans. As part of these collaborative efforts, these agencies also should identify specific programs for consolidation, including those requiring statutory changes. HUD, USDA, and VA generally agreed with the recommendations; however, HUD and OMB stated that actions should wait until after the housing markets stabilize. GAO noted that achieving efficiencies and cost savings also were important.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Agriculture | To enhance task force efforts to evaluate the potential for coordination or consolidation of single-family housing programs and activities, the Secretaries or other designated officials of HUD, USDA, and VA, and the Director of OMB should take steps to establish a more rigorous approach to collaboration. For example, as a first step, agencies could define and articulate goals or common outcomes and identify opportunities that can be addressed or problems solved through their collaborative efforts. Enhancing the task force's efforts also could entail establishing and implementing a written agreement; specifying roles and responsibilities; establishing mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on results; and reinforcing accountability for collaborative efforts. |
In July 2014, representatives from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, HUD's Federal Housing Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency, HUD's Ginnie Mae, USDA's Rural Housing Service, and the Department of Veterans Affairs signed a Joint Federal Housing Agencies Working Group Organizational Charter. The charter states that the purpose of the working group is to focus on program operations through promoting coordination and consistency in federal housing programs; sharing information on housing issues, goals, priorities, and best practices; and reducing the regulatory burdens on the housing finance industry. The charter sets out membership rules, voting procedures, and meeting schedules, and states that the charter is effective until modified or rescinded by all six voting members.
|
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | To enhance task force efforts to evaluate the potential for coordination or consolidation of single-family housing programs and activities, the Secretaries or other designated officials of HUD, USDA, and VA, and the Director of OMB should take steps to establish a more rigorous approach to collaboration. For example, as a first step, agencies could define and articulate goals or common outcomes and identify opportunities that can be addressed or problems solved through their collaborative efforts. Enhancing the task force's efforts also could entail establishing and implementing a written agreement; specifying roles and responsibilities; establishing mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on results; and reinforcing accountability for collaborative efforts. |
In July 2014, representatives from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, HUD's Federal Housing Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency, HUD's Ginnie Mae, USDA's Rural Housing Service, and the Department of Veterans Affairs signed a Joint Federal Housing Agencies Working Group Organizational Charter. The charter states that the purpose of the working group is to focus on program operations through promoting coordination and consistency in federal housing programs; sharing information on housing issues, goals, priorities, and best practices; and reducing the regulatory burdens on the housing finance industry. The charter sets out membership rules, voting procedures, and meeting schedules, and states that the charter is effective until modified or rescinded by all six voting members.
|
| Department of Veterans Affairs | To enhance task force efforts to evaluate the potential for coordination or consolidation of single-family housing programs and activities, the Secretaries or other designated officials of HUD, USDA, and VA, and the Director of OMB should take steps to establish a more rigorous approach to collaboration. For example, as a first step, agencies could define and articulate goals or common outcomes and identify opportunities that can be addressed or problems solved through their collaborative efforts. Enhancing the task force's efforts also could entail establishing and implementing a written agreement; specifying roles and responsibilities; establishing mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on results; and reinforcing accountability for collaborative efforts. |
In July 2014, representatives from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, HUD's Federal Housing Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency, HUD's Ginnie Mae, USDA's Rural Housing Service, and the Department of Veterans Affairs signed a Joint Federal Housing Agencies Working Group Organizational Charter. The charter states that the purpose of the working group is to focus on program operations through promoting coordination and consistency in federal housing programs; sharing information on housing issues, goals, priorities, and best practices; and reducing the regulatory burdens on the housing finance industry. The charter sets out membership rules, voting procedures, and meeting schedules, and states that the charter is effective until modified or rescinded by all six voting members.
|
| Office of Management and Budget | To enhance task force efforts to evaluate the potential for coordination or consolidation of single-family housing programs and activities, the Secretaries or other designated officials of HUD, USDA, and VA, and the Director of OMB should take steps to establish a more rigorous approach to collaboration. For example, as a first step, agencies could define and articulate goals or common outcomes and identify opportunities that can be addressed or problems solved through their collaborative efforts. Enhancing the task force's efforts also could entail establishing and implementing a written agreement; specifying roles and responsibilities; establishing mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on results; and reinforcing accountability for collaborative efforts. |
In July 2014, representatives from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, HUD's Federal Housing Administration, Federal Housing Finance Agency, HUD's Ginnie Mae, USDA's Rural Housing Service, and the Department of Veterans Affairs signed a Joint Federal Housing Agencies Working Group Organizational Charter. The charter states that the purpose of the working group is to focus on program operations through promoting coordination and consistency in federal housing programs; sharing information on housing issues, goals, priorities, and best practices; and reducing the regulatory burdens on the housing finance industry. The charter sets out membership rules, voting procedures, and meeting schedules, and states that the charter is effective until modified or rescinded by all six voting members. Although OMB is not a member of the working group, it was part of the original single-family housing task force, which preceeded the working group. OMB has expressed its support for the working group.
|
| Department of Agriculture | To further improve HUD, USDA, and Treasury's efforts through the Rental Policy Working Group to consolidate and align certain requirements in multifamily housing programs, the Rental Working Group should take steps to document collaborative efforts in strategic and annual plans to help reinforce agency accountability for these efforts. |
HUD, USDA, and Treasury have continued their efforts to improve operations and better coordinate and align certain requirements among the agencies' multifamily and single-family housing programs. For example, in November 2016, the agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to formalize interagency efforts on federal rental housing policy and are developing a white paper to document the history and best practices of the rental policy working group, including possible recommendations that could require statutory changes. The MOU serves to document collaborative efforts as well as to reinforce the agencies? accountability for these efforts. According to USDA, per its congressional mandate, the single family housing division within RHS, unlike FHA and VA, serves only limited income families in rural areas. By collaborating with fellow housing agencies, RHS is able to fulfill its unique mission goals more expeditiously and efficiently.
|
| Department of Housing and Urban Development |
Priority Rec.
To further improve HUD, USDA, and Treasury's efforts through the Rental Policy Working Group to consolidate and align certain requirements in multifamily housing programs, the Rental Working Group should take steps to document collaborative efforts in strategic and annual plans to help reinforce agency accountability for these efforts. |
Consistent with our recommendation, HUD's Strategic Plan 2014-2018 notes HUD's participation in the Rental Policy Working Group under the strategic objective "Preserve quality, affordable rental housing where it is needed most by simplifying and aligning the delivery of rental housing programs." The plan cites HUD's involvement in efforts to share multifamily housing inspections across agencies and identifies "number of inspections saved through inspection sharing" as a related performance measure. Additionally, HUD's FY 2015 Annual Performance Report & FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan provides further detail on inspection-sharing efforts with USDA, including the number of inspections saved.
|
| Department of the Treasury | To further improve HUD, USDA, and Treasury's efforts through the Rental Policy Working Group to consolidate and align certain requirements in multifamily housing programs, the Rental Working Group should take steps to document collaborative efforts in strategic and annual plans to help reinforce agency accountability for these efforts. |
Through their rental policy working group and single-family program task force, HUD, USDA, and Treasury have continued their efforts to improve operations and better coordinate and align certain requirements among the agencies' multifamily and single-family housing programs. For example, in November 2016, the agencies signed a memorandum of understanding to formalize interagency efforts on federal rental housing policy. The MOU serves to document collaborative efforts as well as to reinforce the agencies? accountability for these efforts. HUD, USDA, and Treasury are also developing a white paper to document the history and best practices of the rental policy working group, including possible recommendations that could require statutory changes.
|
| Department of Agriculture | To build on task force and working group efforts already underway to coordinate, consolidate, or improve housing programs, and help inform Congress's decision-making process, the Secretaries or other designated officials of HUD, Treasury, USDA, and VA should evaluate and report on the specific opportunities for consolidating similar housing programs, including those that would require statutory changes. |
Consistent with our recommendation, the Office of Management and Budget issued a reform plan and reorganization recommendations in June 2018 that include a proposal to consolidate oversight and policy direction of similar federal housing programs under one agency. Specifically, the proposal would move USDA's rural housing loan guarantee and rental assistance programs to HUD. The proposal states that the reorganization could be modeled after a provision in a prior draft bill, the FHA-Rural Regulatory Improvement Act of 2011, which would have created a rural housing office within HUD and transferred the USDA housing programs into that office. The proposal further states that the consolidation would help achieve long-term improvements in operational efficiency and service delivery by taking advantage of best practices from each agency, reducing or eliminating conflicting requirements, and potentially reducing overhead costs.
|
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | To build on task force and working group efforts already underway to coordinate, consolidate, or improve housing programs, and help inform Congress's decision-making process, the Secretaries or other designated officials of HUD, Treasury, USDA, and VA should evaluate and report on the specific opportunities for consolidating similar housing programs, including those that would require statutory changes. |
Consistent with our recommendation, the Office of Management and Budget issued a reform plan and reorganization recommendations in June 2018 that include a proposal to consolidate oversight and policy direction of similar federal housing programs under one agency. Specifically, the proposal would move USDA's rural housing loan guarantee and rental assistance programs to HUD. The proposal states that the reorganization could be modeled after a provision in a prior draft bill, the FHA-Rural Regulatory Improvement Act of 2011, which would have created a rural housing office within HUD and transferred the USDA housing programs into that office. The proposal further states that the consolidation would help achieve long-term improvements in operational efficiency and service delivery by taking advantage of best practices from each agency, reducing or eliminating conflicting requirements, and potentially reducing overhead costs.
|
| Department of the Treasury | To build on task force and working group efforts already underway to coordinate, consolidate, or improve housing programs, and help inform Congress's decision-making process, the Secretaries or other designated officials of HUD, Treasury, USDA, and VA should evaluate and report on the specific opportunities for consolidating similar housing programs, including those that would require statutory changes. |
Consistent with our recommendation, the Office of Management and Budget issued a reform plan and reorganization recommendations in June 2018 that include a proposal to consolidate oversight and policy direction of similar federal housing programs under one agency. Specifically, the proposal would move USDA's rural housing loan guarantee and rental assistance programs to HUD. The proposal states that the reorganization could be modeled after a provision in a prior draft bill, the FHA-Rural Regulatory Improvement Act of 2011, which would have created a rural housing office within HUD and transferred the USDA housing programs into that office. The proposal further states that the consolidation would help achieve long-term improvements in operational efficiency and service delivery by taking advantage of best practices from each agency, reducing or eliminating conflicting requirements, and potentially reducing overhead costs.
|
| Department of Veterans Affairs | To build on task force and working group efforts already underway to coordinate, consolidate, or improve housing programs, and help inform Congress's decision-making process, the Secretaries or other designated officials of HUD, Treasury, USDA, and VA should evaluate and report on the specific opportunities for consolidating similar housing programs, including those that would require statutory changes. |
Consistent with our recommendation, the Office of Management and Budget issued a reform plan and reorganization recommendations in June 2018 that include a proposal to consolidate oversight and policy direction of similar federal housing programs under one agency. Specifically, the proposal would move USDA's rural housing loan guarantee and rental assistance programs to HUD. The proposal states that the reorganization could be modeled after a provision in a prior draft bill, the FHA-Rural Regulatory Improvement Act of 2011, which would have created a rural housing office within HUD and transferred the USDA housing programs into that office. The proposal further states that the consolidation would help achieve long-term improvements in operational efficiency and service delivery by taking advantage of best practices from each agency, reducing or eliminating conflicting requirements, and potentially reducing overhead costs.
|