Housing and Urban Development: Use and Oversight of the Economic Development Loan Fund
RCED-97-195
Published: Aug 20, 1997. Publicly Released: Aug 27, 1997.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined how changes to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Economic Development Loan Fund have affected the program, focusing on: (1) the extent to which communities are using the loan fund; (2) factors affecting communities' willingness to use the fund; (3) the types of projects being financed with loan proceeds; and (4) HUD's procedures for overseeing the program.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | To ensure that HUD's field offices have accurate and timely information for monitoring loan fund activities and that loan fund activities are routinely reviewed, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should develop procedures to ensure that the information necessary to monitor program performance and compliance with program requirements is promptly provided to the cognizant field offices. |
Closed – Implemented
HUD officials said that they sent complete loan documentation for all outstanding loans to the field offices so that they will have this information for oversight purposes. They said that HUD plans to continue to send documentation for newly made loans to the appropriate field offices as soon as the documentation becomes available. In addition, HUD has provided training sessions for field staff that included components on reviewing loan fund activities.
|
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | To ensure that HUD's field offices have accurate and timely information for monitoring loan fund activities and that loan fund activities are routinely reviewed, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should direct field offices to include a review of loan fund activities when they review CDBG communities and states. |
Closed – Implemented
In fiscal years 1999 and 2000, HUD field offices performed reviews of selected grantees' Section 108 loan guarantee projects using existing guidelines. These reviews were undertaken as part of monitoring goals established in the Office of Community Planning and Development's business operating plans. HUD also provided two field training sessions in September 2000, in part, to provide additional guidance to field staff to assist in the performance of loan guarantee reviews.
|
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | To determine the extent to which communities and states are using CDBG allotments to repay loans, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should implement procedures for tracking loan payments made from communities' or states' CDBG allocations. |
Closed – Implemented
HUD modified the Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS) to allow grantees to report separately on both planned and unplanned repayments of Section 108 loans. However, HUD expects that few states and communities will report unless the process for using the information system is simplified. Because HUD anticipates replacing its current information system with the Departmental Grants Management System, HUD is only funding maintenance on the existing system. However, HUD's development of the Departmental Grants Management System is not very far along and HUD expects that it will be several more years before GAO would be able to determine whether of not HUD's new system will track loan payments made from CDBG allocations.
|
Full Report
Office of Public Affairs
Topics
Block grantsCommunity development programsEconomic developmentFederal aid for housingGovernment guaranteed loansGrant monitoringIntergovernmental relationsMortgage programsReal propertyCommunity development