Summary

In 1990, GAO began a special effort to identify federal programs at high risk of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. GAO issued a series of reports in December 1992 on the fundamental causes of the problems in the high-risk areas. This report on the Department of Housing and Urban Development is part of the second series that updates the status of this high-risk area. Readers have the following three options in ordering the high-risk series: (1) request any of the individual reports in the series, including the Overview (HR-95-1), the Guide (HR-95-2), or any of the 10 issue area reports; (2) request the Overview and the Guide as a package (HR-95-21SET); or (3) request the entire series as a package (HR-95-20SET).

GAO found that: (1) HUD has begun actions to address its long-standing management problems, but its leadership must provide sustained focus, commitment, and consistent follow-up for the plans to be effective; (2) HUD has proposed a new management approach to balance its financial and performance needs; (3) HUD has implemented a new management planning and control program and other actions to address its internal control problems departmentwide; (4) HUD has improved its lines of authority, eliminated its 10 regional offices and realigned field offices into state and area offices in order to enhance communications, reduced its review and approval process, and improved customer service, but it could take additional actions to improve program management; (5) HUD has increased training opportunities to upgrade staff skills and plans to make more effective use of its limited staff; (6) HUD has taken steps to improve its information and financial management systems; (7) the proposed HUD reinvention plan includes consolidating programs and moving to performance-based funding, transforming the public housing program, and creating an entrepreneurial government-owned Federal Housing Administration corporation; (8) the proposed HUD reinvention plan would shift program design and implementation responsibilities to states and localities to make them more responsive to local needs; and (9) HUD would assume an oversight role and serve as a clearinghouse for program information under this reinvention proposal.