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Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Housing and Urban Development

GAO-23-106349 Published: May 09, 2023. Publicly Released: May 16, 2023.
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Fast Facts

Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help the federal government save money, address issues on our High Risk List, and significantly improve government operations.

This letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development outlines 11 open recommendations to prioritize. For example, HUD's "Point-in-Time" counts may underestimate the number of persons experiencing homelessness and may not accurately reflect changes in this population. HUD should look at how it collects such data and its accuracy.

HUD implemented 5 recommendations that we identified as a priority last year.

We regularly update priority recommendations here.

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Highlights

What GAO Found

In June 2022, GAO identified 11 priority recommendations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Since then, HUD implemented five of those recommendations, including by implementing a policy to analyze the effects of Moving to Work program flexibilities on tenants in two rental assistance programs and by completing an analysis of the optimal mix for contractors and in-house staff at Ginnie Mae.

In May 2023, GAO identified five additional priority recommendations for HUD, bringing the total number to 11. These recommendations involve the following areas:

  • Data collection on homelessness
  • Federal disaster recovery barriers efforts
  • Cybersecurity challenges
  • Real Estate Assessment Center's physical inspection process 
  • Processes to address lead paint hazards
  • IT management

HUD's continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations.

Why GAO Did This Study

Priority open recommendations are the GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision-making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015 GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations.

For more information, contact Daniel Garcia-Diaz at (202) 512-5106 or garciadiazd@gao.gov.

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Topics

CybersecurityData collectionDisaster recoveryFederal assistance programsHome inspectionsHomelessnessIT managementLead-based paint hazardsCompliance oversightHousing