Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Housing and Urban Development

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 that it should prioritize. For example, to help address fraud risks in HUD's disaster funding program, we recommended developing guidance for grantees to help them identify contractor fraud.

HUD implemented 2 recommendations we identified as a priority last year. We also closed a third recommendation as no longer valid. We regularly update priority recommendations here.

Graphic that says, "GAO's Priority Open Recommendations" and includes the HUD seal.

Highlights

What GAO Found

In May 2023, GAO identified 11 priority recommendations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Since then, HUD implemented two of those recommendations. First, HUD issued guidance that establishes a plan for monitoring public housing agencies' compliance with the lead paint regulations and describes the roles and responsibilities in HUD for coordinating oversight and engaging with public housing agencies. Second, HUD issued guidance establishing procedures to address noncompliance with lead paint regulations. GAO also closed a third recommendation as no longer valid because HUD replaced the process in question with a new one.

In May 2024, GAO identified three additional priority recommendations for HUD, bringing the total number to 11. These recommendations involve the following areas:

Fraud risk in federal funding for disaster recovery,
Challenges in federal disaster recovery efforts,
Data collection on homelessness,
Cybersecurity challenges, and
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 Dan Garcia-Diaz at (202) 512-8678 or garciadiazd@gao.gov.