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HUD takes enforcement of the Lead Safe Housing Rule seriously.
HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s management of lead‐based paint in its public housing program. It was picked for audit based on the office’s assessment of the risks of lead-based paint in public housing. The risk factors assessed included the age of buildings, the number of units, household demographics, and reported cases of childhood lead poisoning.
HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited HUD’s oversight of multifamily housing properties with failing Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) scores or life-threatening exigent health and safety (EHS) deficiencies. The objective of the audit was to determine whether HUD had effective oversight of multifamily housing properties to ensure that sites were maintained in decent, safe, and sanitary condition as required by HUD regulations.
In September 2021, after an onsite review of a 150-unit project-based Section 8 property in Waukegan, Ill., discovered deplorable conditions at the site, HUD initiated an administrative action against the owner and management agent for failing to provide decent, safe, and sanitary conditions to tenants.
OIG says HUD should require owners to document their determinations that work qualifies for the de minimis exemption.
While conducting an ongoing audit of the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s management of lead-based paint hazards in its public housing units, HUD’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) identified a gap in HUD’s program requirements related to safe work practices, which OIG believes “requires immediate action by HUD.”
HUD's Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited HUD's oversight of its PHAs’ reasonable accommodation policies and procedures. A reasonable accommodation is a change, exception, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary for a person with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, including public and common use spaces, or to fulfill their program obligations. The OIG audit report identified some common reasonable accommodations and modifications examples:
The Housing Choice Voucher program, funded by HUD, allows eligible families to lease safe, decent, and affordable privately owned rental housing. The program is implemented through a combination of an annual contributions contract between HUD and each public housing agency (PHA), which authorizes a certain number of vouchers to be issued according to that contract, and annual appropriations by Congress to fund the contractual agreements.
In July 2019, an explosion occurred at the Calloway Cove Apartments, a Section 8-assisted site in Jacksonville, Fla. The explosion resulted in a fire that injured several people. HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center had identified life-threatening health and safety deficiencies at the property for several years, and there had been separate concerns related to health and safety issues at this site, which appear to have gone unaddressed and may have led to the fire.
Catalyst: As part of the fiscal year 2019 audit plan, HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit into HUD’s oversight of lead in the water of multifamily housing units. The objective was to determine whether HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs had sufficient policies, procedures, and controls to ensure that households living in multifamily housing units had a sufficient supply of safe drinking water.
Catalyst: HUD’s Region 7 Office of Multifamily Housing Programs asked HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) to audit a Kansas City site’s Project-Based Section 8 Rental Assistance program. HUD conducted a management and occupancy review in January 2018 and gave the site a “below average” rating. HUD also conducted a tenant file audit and found that the tenant files were noncompliant.
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