HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs Can Improve Its Monitoring of Civil Rights Compliance

Excerpt:  “We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Multifamily Housing Programs’ monitoring of civil rights compliance. Robust monitoring for civil rights compliance is critical to HUD’s goals to support underserved communities. Our audit objective was to assess the extent to which HUD monitored civil rights compliance in its program activities. HUD and performance-based contract administrators (PBCA) perform minimal monitoring of civil rights compliance when conducting management and occupancy reviews (MOR) for multifamily properties due to: 1) a lack of training and emphasis regarding civil rights monitoring; and 2) contract issues with the PBCAs. From April 1, 2021, through December 31, 2023, HUD and the PBCAs monitored civil rights compliance for only 12 multifamily properties from a statistical sample of 132 properties. By performing minimal monitoring of civil rights compliance, HUD is missing opportunities to identify discriminatory practices or civil rights violations, thereby missing opportunities to report these concerns to the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity for resolution.”