Rental Housing Assistance: Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Criminal History Policies and Implementation of the Fugitive Felon Initiative
Fast Facts
The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the FBI play roles in ensuring resident safety in federally-assisted housing. For example, HUD is responsible for monitoring local public housing agencies' compliance with requirements for screening applicants.
Also, HUD's Office of Inspector General works with the FBI to identify and apprehend fugitives who may be living in federally-assisted housing. But these efforts have not been consistent.
We made 7 recommendations to enhance HUD's oversight of local public housing agencies and improve collaboration between HUD's Office of Inspector General and the FBI.
Photo of HUD headquarters in Washington, DC.
Highlights
What GAO Found
Federal requirements for public housing agencies. Federal statutes and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations require public housing agencies (PHA) to conduct criminal history checks on individuals applying for rental assistance under HUD's public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs and deny assistance for six types of offenses. Mandatory denials include convictions for producing methamphetamine on the premises of federally-assisted housing and lifetime sex offender registrants. Otherwise, PHAs generally have discretion in establishing their criminal history policies and may deny assistance for other offenses or factor in mitigating circumstances.
HUD monitoring of public housing agencies. From 2011 through 2016, HUD issued new guidance to PHAs on criminal history policies, but these changes are not reflected in HUD's program guidebooks for PHAs. These guidebooks serve as key reference tools, but have not been updated in over 15 years. Updating them would help HUD more accurately communicate its criminal history policies. While HUD officials said their current efforts to update the guidebooks will reflect recent criminal history policy notices, documentation provided by the agency on these updates did not specifically address criminal history guidance. In addition, HUD's compliance reviews of high-risk PHAs do not address some criminal history policy requirements, such as the prohibition on using arrest records as the basis for determining eligibility. Further, these reviews are largely limited to examining PHAs' written policies and do not cover how PHAs implement those policies. More comprehensive compliance reviews would improve HUD's ability to identify areas of noncompliance with criminal history policy requirements.
Fugitive Felon Initiative. From fiscal years 2013 through 2017, the HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shared data through the Fugitive Felon Initiative, which led to the apprehension of more than 1,200 wanted persons who may have lived in HUD-assisted housing. However, GAO found that the HUD OIG had not defined its regional office responsibilities under the initiative and that four of the seven HUD OIG regions did not participate from 2012 through 2016. The HUD OIG revised its procedures for the initiative in April 2018 to include regional office responsibilities, such as coordinating with law enforcement agencies. According to HUD OIG officials, regional offices are now required to coordinate with law enforcement agencies on a priority list of investigative leads, which include warrants for violent felonies, sexual assault, and narcotics distribution. However, the HUD OIG does not plan to assess regional office implementation of several requirements. Collecting and assessing more comprehensive information on regional office activities would help the HUD OIG determine the extent to which regions are undertaking required activities. In addition, the HUD OIG and the FBI have not consistently shared information on the initiative's results—such as apprehension statistics and program savings—which could help evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative. Further, the HUD OIG's and the FBI's current activities to implement the initiative differ in some areas from the agreed-upon responsibilities listed in their 2012 memorandum of understanding. Updating the memorandum to reflect current responsibilities under the initiative could help improve collaboration between the agencies and improve implementation.
Why GAO Did This Study
HUD has encouraged PHAs to balance resident safety with the housing needs of persons with criminal records when administering its rental assistance programs. PHAs are responsible for screening program applicants. The HUD OIG and the FBI implement the Fugitive Felon Initiative to identify and apprehend wanted persons receiving rental assistance.
GAO was asked to review HUD's criminal history policies and the Fugitive Felon Initiative. This report examines (1) federal requirements for PHAs' criminal history policies, (2) HUD guidance and monitoring of these requirements, and (3) implementation of the Fugitive Felon Initiative. GAO reviewed federal statutes and regulations and interviewed officials from HUD, the HUD OIG, and the FBI; analyzed Fugitive Felon Initiative data from 2013 through 2017; and interviewed staff at a nongeneralizable sample of 10 PHAs (selected based on size and other factors).
Recommendations
GAO is making seven recommendations, including that HUD update PHA guidebooks and improve monitoring procedures; that the HUD OIG assess more comprehensive information on the implementation of the Fugitive Felon Initiative; and that the HUD OIG and the FBI consistently share information on the initiative's results and update their memorandum of understanding to reflect current responsibilities. HUD and the FBI generally agreed. The HUD OIG did not agree with two of our recommendations. GAO maintains the recommendations, as discussed in the report.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Office of Public and Indian Housing | The HUD Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public and Indian Housing should complete its updates of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program Guidebook and Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook to reflect current guidance on criminal history policies for its public housing and HCV programs. (Recommendation 1) |
In November 2019, HUD updated the HCV Program Guidebook to include information on criminal history policies. In June 2022, the Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook chapter on eligibility determination and denial of assistance was also updated.
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| Office of Public and Indian Housing | The HUD Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public and Indian Housing should review HUD's Compliance Monitoring Checklist to determine if questions should be added to address additional federal criminal history requirements and revise checklist instructions to direct HUD staff to obtain information on PHAs' implementation of these requirements during compliance reviews. (Recommendation 2) |
In November 2018, HUD officials stated that HUD Office of Public and Indian Housing staff, including Regional Directors, reviewed the checklist and determined that no additional questions should be added as they believed the checklist addressed federal criminal history requirements. In March 2022, HUD officials provided their fiscal year 2020 compliance checklist and its instructions that contained revised and new questions addressing federal criminal history requirements, including a question related to the prohibition on using arrest records as the sole basis for determining eligibility.
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| Office of Investigation | The HUD Assistant Inspector General for the Office of Investigation should collect and assess more comprehensive information on regional efforts to implement the activities listed in the 2018 Standard Operating Procedure. (Recommendation 3) |
In August 2018, we reported on the Fugitive Felon Initiative, a data sharing initiative between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to locate and apprehend fugitives. We found that while a 2018 HUD OIG standard operating procedure (SOP) for the initiative included requirements for HUD OIG headquarters to track and report statistics related to its regional offices' activities, the HUD OIG did not plan to collect or assess data on the activities listed in the 2018 SOP that HUD OIG officials stated regional offices were required to undertake. We recommended that the HUD OIG collect and assess more comprehensive information on regional efforts to implement the activities listed in the 2018 SOP. In January 2022, HUD OIG officials stated that they had limited resources to apply to this initiative. As such, the HUD OIG limits its interaction to assisting the FBI with data matching to identify fugitive felons residing in HUD subsidized housing and assisting in the arrest of a fugitive only in extenuating circumstances or if the subject has direct involvement in an OIG investigation. In March 2024, HUD OIG and the FBI jointly agreed to an updated MOU that documents the responsibilities of both agencies with regard to the exchange of information to assist with apprehending fugitives. HUD OIG officials stated that the 2024 MOU with FBI supersedes the 2018 SOP. By jointly agreeing to the responsibilities of HUD OIG and FBI under the Fugitive Felon Initiative and updating the MOU to reflect these responsibilities, HUD OIG and FBI are better positioned to improve implementation of the initiative.
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| Office of Investigation | The HUD Assistant Inspector General for the Office of Investigation should, in collaboration with the FBI, determine what information on fugitive apprehensions and any estimated program savings that occur as the result of the Fugitive Felon Initiative would be most useful and consistently share such information with the FBI. (Recommendation 4) |
In August 2018, we reported on the Fugitive Felon Initiative, a data sharing initiative between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to locate and apprehend fugitives. We found that the HUD OIG had not consistently shared information on the results of the initiative as agreed to in a 2012 memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the FBI. Specifically, the 2012 MOU stated that the HUD OIG was to provide apprehension information and estimated program savings to the FBI every 30 days, and the HUD OIG was not sharing this information with the FBI. We recommended that HUD OIG should, in collaboration with the FBI, determine what information on fugitive apprehensions and any estimated program savings that occur as the result of the Fugitive Felon Initiative would be most useful and consistently share such information with the FBI. In March 2024, HUD OIG and the FBI jointly agreed to an updated MOU that documents the responsibilities of both agencies with regard to the exchange of information to assist with apprehending fugitives. The 2024 MOU does not include sharing apprehension or program savings information as a responsibility of the HUD OIG and as a result HUD OIG is no longer required to share this information with FBI. By jointly agreeing to the responsibilities of HUD OIG and FBI under the Fugitive Felon Initiative and updating the MOU to reflect these responsibilities, HUD OIG and FBI are better positioned to improve implementation of the initiative.
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| Office of Investigation | The HUD Assistant Inspector General for the Office of Investigation should, in collaboration with the FBI, update the Fugitive Felon Initiative memorandum of understanding (MOU) to reflect the agencies' current activities and responsibilities. (Recommendation 5) |
In August 2018, we reported on the Fugitive Felon Initiative, a data sharing initiative between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to locate and apprehend fugitives. We found that HUD OIG and the FBI articulated their agreement for the Fugitive Felon Initiative in a 2012 memorandum of understanding (MOU), but as of 2018 the MOU had not been updated to reflect either of the agencies' current implementation of the initiative. We found that jointly agreeing to any changes in HUD OIG and FBI responsibilities under the Fugitive Felon Initiative and updating the MOU to reflect these changes could improve collaboration between the OIG and the FBI and improve implementation of the initiative. We recommended that HUD OIG and FBI collaborate with each other to update the Fugitive Felon Initiative MOU to reflect the agencies' current activities and responsibilities. In March 2024, HUD OIG and the FBI jointly agreed to an updated MOU that documents the responsibilities of both agencies with regard to the exchange of information to assist with apprehending fugitives. By jointly agreeing to the responsibilities of HUD OIG and FBI under the Fugitive Felon Initiative and updating the MOU to reflect these responsibilities, HUD OIG and FBI are better positioned to improve implementation of the initiative.
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| Federal Bureau of Investigation | The Director of the FBI should, in collaboration with the HUD OIG, determine what information on fugitive apprehensions that occur as the result of the Fugitive Felon Initiative would be most useful and consistently share such information with the HUD OIG. (Recommendation 6) |
In 2018, we found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had not consistently shared information on the results of the Fugitive Felon Initiative with the Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of the Inspector General (HUD OIG) and had not agreed with HUD OIG on the type of information that would be most useful to share. As a result, we recommended that the Director of the FBI should, in collaboration with the HUD OIG, determine what information on fugitive apprehensions that occur as the result of the Fugitive Felon Initiative would be most useful and consistently share such information with the HUD OIG. In response, the FBI resumed sending statistics on the number of arrests resulting annually from the Fugitive Felon Initiative to the HUD OIG. In addition, the FBI sends HUD OIG, on a weekly basis, copies of forms documenting the dispositions of leads produced through the Fugitive Felon Initiative. Officials from HUD OIG confirmed that they have been receiving this information and that it is sufficient for HUD OIG's purposes. By sharing this information, HUD OIG and the FBI are better positioned to evaluate the effectiveness of the Fugitive Felon Initiative and identify areas for improvement.
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| Federal Bureau of Investigation | The Director of the FBI should, in collaboration with the HUD OIG, update the Fugitive Felon Initiative MOU to reflect the agencies' current activities and responsibilities. (Recommendation 7) |
In August 2018, we reported on the Fugitive Felon Initiative, a data sharing initiative between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to locate and apprehend fugitives. We found that HUD OIG and the FBI articulated their agreement for the Fugitive Felon Initiative in a 2012 memorandum of understanding (MOU), but as of 2018 the MOU had not been updated to reflect either of the agencies' current implementation of the initiative. We found that jointly agreeing to any changes in HUD OIG and FBI responsibilities under the Fugitive Felon Initiative and updating the MOU to reflect these changes could improve collaboration between the OIG and the FBI and improve implementation of the initiative. We recommended that HUD OIG and FBI collaborate with each other to update the Fugitive Felon Initiative MOU to reflect the agencies' current activities and responsibilities. In March 2024, HUD OIG and the FBI jointly agreed to an updated MOU that documents the responsibilities of both agencies with regard to the exchange of information to assist with apprehending fugitives. By jointly agreeing to the responsibilities of HUD OIG and FBI under the Fugitive Felon Initiative and updating the MOU to reflect these responsibilities, HUD OIG and FBI are better positioned to improve implementation of the initiative.
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