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Public Housing: HOPE VI Leveraging Has Increased, but HUD Has Not Met Annual Reporting Requirement

GAO-03-91 Published: Nov 15, 2002. Publicly Released: Dec 03, 2002.
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Highlights

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requested that we review the HOPE VI program. Because of the scope of the request, we agreed with the office of the Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, to provide the information in a series of reports. This first report focuses on the financing of HOPE VI developments. We describe the extent to which grantees have (1) leveraged funds from other sources, particularly other federal sources; (2) leveraged funds specifically for community and supportive services; and (3) complied with HUD's funding limits for developing public housing units and budgeted additional funds not subject to these limits. Because the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 requires HUD to report HOPE VI cost information to Congress, we also discuss the extent to which HUD has complied with this requirement.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should provide annual reports on the HOPE VI program to Congress as required by law and include in these annual reports, among other things, information on the amounts and sources of funding used at HOPE VI sites, including equity raised from low-income housing tax credits.
Closed – Implemented
In December 2002, HUD issued "HOPE VI Annual Report; Fiscal Year 2002." The cover letter to this report specifically addresses GAO's recommendation. Specifically, it contains the amounts of funds budgeted from four different sources, noting which amount includes equity raised from low-income housing tax credits.
Department of Housing and Urban Development The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should provide annual reports on the HOPE VI program to Congress as required by law and include in these annual reports, among other things, information on the total cost of developing public housing units at HOPE VI sites, including the costs of items subject to HUD's development cost limits and those that are not.
Closed – Implemented
In December 2002, HUD issued "HOPE VI Annual Report; Fiscal Year 2002." The cover letter to this report specifically addresses GAO's recommendation. Specifically, it contains two cost figures, one showing the total average cost of completed units, and one showing the average amount of HOPE VI funds spent on a revitalized unit.

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

BudgetingFunds managementGrantsHousing programsPublic housingPublic housing revitalizationTax creditHousingLow income housingDistressed public housing