Lead Paint in Housing: HUD Should Strengthen Compliance Monitoring and Performance Assessment in its Rental Assistance Programs
Fast Facts
Lead paint in housing is the most common source of lead exposure for U.S. children. The Department of Housing and Urban Development oversees compliance with lead paint regulations in its rental assistance programs.
We submitted a statement for the record that HUD has taken steps to address lead paint hazards but that it could do more. For example, HUD does not have a plan to address risks related to noncompliance with lead paint regulations by public housing agencies.
We made a number of recommendations to HUD, including that it improve its compliance monitoring processes.
Examples of Homes with Lead Paint Hazards
Side by side photos: 1 of a yellow caution sign, and another of peeling paint
Highlights
What GAO Found
- Lead grant programs. While its recent grant award processes incorporate statutory requirements on applicant eligibility and selection criteria, HUD has not fully documented or evaluated these processes. For example, HUD’s guidance is not sufficiently detailed to ensure consistent and appropriate grant award decisions. Better documentation and evaluation of HUD’s grant program processes could help ensure that lead grants reach areas at risk of lead paint hazards. Further, HUD has not developed specific time frames for using available local-level data to better identify areas of the country at risk for lead paint hazards, which could help HUD target its limited resources.
- Oversight. HUD does not have a plan to mitigate and address risks related to noncompliance with lead paint regulations by public housing agencies. We identified several limitations with HUD’s monitoring efforts, including reliance on public housing agencies’ self-certifying compliance with lead paint regulations and challenges identifying children with elevated blood lead levels. Additionally, HUD lacks detailed procedures for addressing noncompliance consistently and in a timely manner. Developing a plan and detailed procedures to address noncompliance with lead paint regulations could strengthen HUD’s oversight of public housing agencies.
- Inspections. The lead inspection standard for the Housing Choice Voucher program is less strict than that of the public housing program. By requesting and obtaining statutory authority to amend the standard for the voucher program, HUD would be positioned to take steps to better protect children in voucher units from lead exposure as indicated by analysis of benefits and costs.
- Performance assessment and reporting. HUD lacks comprehensive goals and performance measures for its lead reduction efforts. In addition, it has not complied with annual statutory reporting requirements, last reporting as required on its lead efforts in 1997. Without better performance assessment and reporting, HUD cannot fully assess the effectiveness of its lead efforts.
Examples of Homes with Lead Paint Hazards
Why GAO Did This Study
This testimony summarizes the information contained in GAO's June 2018 report, entitled Lead Paint in Housing: HUD Should Strengthen Grant Processes, Compliance Monitoring, and Performance Assessment (GAO-18-394).