Housing - Rental Housing Assistance Program (RHAP) - Project Based Rental Assistance - Project Based Section 8 - Rental Housing Assistance Program- Section 236 - Housing for Persons with Disability- Section 811

Home > Agencies & Programs > Housing - Rental Housing Assistance Program (RHAP) - Project Based Rental Assistance - Project Based Section 8 - Rental Housing Assistance Program- Section 236 - Housing for Persons with Disability- Section 811

Program level Payment Integrity results

Sponsoring agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development

View on Federal Program Inventory

PROGRAM METRICS

$12,613 M

in FY 2021 outlays, with a

100.0%

payment accuracy rate

PROGRAM METRICS

Did not report

in FY 2022

PROGRAM METRICS

Did not report

in FY 2023

PROGRAM METRICS

$15,237 M

in FY 2024 outlays, with a

99.7%

payment accuracy rate

PROGRAM METRICS

$16,458 M

in FY 2025 outlays, with a

73.6%

payment accuracy rate

  • Improper payment estimates over time
    View as:

    Chart toggle amounts:
    Proper payments
    Overpayment
    Underpayment
    Technically improper
    Unknown

Payment Integrity results

  • FY 2021 improper payment estimates

    Chart legend and breakdown

    Payment accuracy rate

    Improper payment rate

    Unknown payment rate


    Sampling & estimation methodology details

    Sampling timeframe:

    10/2019 - 09/2020


    Confidence interval:

    >90%


    Margin of error:

    +/-0.158608

Overpayments

Overpayment root cause Overpayment amount
Amount of overpayments within the agency's control $0.1 M
Amount of overpayments that occurred because the data/information needed to validate payment accuracy prior to making a payment does not exist $0.0 M
The amount of overpayments that occurred because of an inability to access the data/information needed to validate payment accuracy prior to making a payment $0.0 M
The amount of overpayments that occurred because of a failure to access data/information needed to validate payment accuracy prior to making a payment $0.1 M

Overpayment root cause Overpayment amount
Amount of overpayments outside the agency's control $0.0 M

Underpayments

Underpayment root cause Underpayment amount
Amount of underpayments $0.0 M

Technically improper payments

The amount of improper payments that were paid to the right recipient for the correct amount but were considered technically improper because of failure to follow statute or regulation $0.0 M

Additional information

$0.0 M

Unknown Payment Details

Evaluation of corrective actions

The success of any planned actions will be determined by reviewing the annual IP and UP rate and the root cause of any improper payment identified.

Future payment integrity outlook

Housing - Rental Housing Assistance Program (RHAP) - Project Based Rental Assistance - Project Based Section 8 - Rental Housing Assistance Program- Section 236 - Housing for Persons with Disability- Section 811 has NOT established a baseline.

The program's current year improper payment and unknown payment rate of 0.0 % has not been achieved with a balance of payment integrity risk and controls and does not represent the lowest rate that can be achieved without disproportionally increasing another risk, therefore it is not the tolerable rate.

Testing at the Tier 1 level showed an IP and UP rate under the Tolerable Rate. However, HUD relies on many manual processes that put the sustainability of this position at risk. The current tolerable rate was met with HUD’s internal controls, human capital and information system and other infrastructure.

Additional programmatic information

Unknown Payment Details

Evaluation of corrective actions

Future payment integrity outlook

Additional programmatic information

Rental Assistance Story
• Payment Integrity requires comprehensive testing of the full payment life cycle. (i.e., HUD, recipient, & tenant levels)
• Compliance is dependent on being able to access, collect, and store data
from internal and external sources that is covered by privacy requirements
• Specifically, supporting documentation necessary to complete testing of
the full payment life cycle for the rental assistance program includes
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Protected Health Information
(PHI)
• HUD is developing an IT solution to electronically collect, store, disseminate, review, analyze, and safeguard payment evidence from internal and external sources that contains PII and PHI.

Additional information

$0 M

Unknown Payment Details

Evaluation of corrective actions

Future payment integrity outlook

Additional programmatic information

Based on guidance from OMB on 10/25/2022, HUD did not report improper payment estimates for rental assistance programs TBRA and PBRA as the full payment lifecycle could not be verified and testing was unable to be completed. HUD was unable to produce estimates due to limitations in obtaining supporting documentation needed for testing in a timely manner for FY 2022 disbursements. Without estimates, HUD could not determine whether its improper payment plus unknown payment estimate was below or above the statutory threshold. As a result, HUD could not implement corrective actions and other OMB requirements for programs above the statutory threshold. HUD did not perform testing of the full payment cycle for RHAP - TBRA and PBRA related to FY 2022 payments due to lack of compliance readiness, including: need of further training of personnel at all levels of the payment cycle, resource limitations, key person dependencies, and the delay of full implementation of corrective actions around privacy and security concerns. Due to this scope limitation, HUD is not reporting an error rate for PBRA and TBRA for the FY 2023 reporting cycle. Target date is FY2027, dependent on funding.

  • FY 2024 improper payment estimates

    Chart legend and breakdown

    Payment accuracy rate

    Improper payment rate

    Unknown payment rate


    Sampling & estimation methodology details

    Sampling timeframe:

    10/2022 - 09/2023


    Confidence interval:

    95% to <100%


    Margin of error:

    +/-0.29

  • Actions taken & planned to mitigate improper payments

    Mitigation strategy Description of the corrective action Completion date Status
    Training
    The identified Training corrective actions aim to reduce the unknown payments. Eligibility Tier testing revealed significant difficulties in retrieving evidence from the contract administrators to timely support tenant eligibility and any error rate estimation would be misleading based on a lack of precision in an extrapolating error rate. As corrective actions, HUD continued its training efforts to improve contract administrators’ timely evidence organization, retention, collection, and submission through training and outreach. The identified corrective actions will provide knowledge to the Owners/Agents on their role in the testing process. Due to the absence of adequate documentation from the Owners/Agents to substantiate the payments, $45.24 million of unknown payments are being reported in FY24. With improved understanding and support regarding the documentation requirements, Owners/Agents will have additional knowledge to furnish the correct documents timely and reduce the extrapolated error. Eligibility Tier payments are not being reported in the FY 2024 Payment Integrity. Therefore, root cause and corrective action determinations would be premature in this reporting cycle. That said, HUD will utilize the lessons learned during the Payee Tier testing during the Eligibility testing.
    FY2024 Q4
    Completed

Overpayments

Overpayment root cause Overpayment amount
Amount of overpayments within the agency's control $0.0 M

Overpayment root cause Overpayment amount
Amount of overpayments outside the agency's control $0.0 M

Underpayments

Underpayment root cause Underpayment amount
Amount of underpayments $0.0 M

Technically improper payments

The amount of improper payments that were paid to the right recipient for the correct amount but were considered technically improper because of failure to follow statute or regulation $0.0 M

Additional information

$0 M

Unknown Payment Details

Testing showed that there are several selected samples with missing documentation. Without the missing documentation we could not conclude whether an improper payment occurred or not. Examples of missing documentations are as follows:
1. Contracts with Signature
2. Form 52670
3. ACH of disbursement of funds from PBCA to Properties
4. TRACS Voucher List & Detail
5. LOCCS
6. IREMS Rent screenshot
7. IREMS Risk Rating screenshot
Lack of the documents above prevented confirmation that:
Funds being used for their intended purpose
Funds were paid to eligible recipients, and that
Funds were paid at accurate amounts.

The amount of payments that could either be proper or improper but the agency is unable to determine whether they were proper or improper as a result of insufficient or lack of documentation is $45.24 M


Cause of insufficient or lack of documentation & why the documentation is needed for determination of payment type
Payment cause Amount Description of the documentation that was not provided and explanation of why the program is unable to conclude whether the payment is proper or improper without that documentation
Other $45.24 M Provide a minimum of 6-8 sentences identifying the entity/scenario that failed to provide the documentation and describing the specific documentation that the entity/scenario failed to provide and explain why the program is unable to conclude whether the payment is proper or improper without that documentation. (Unit- Free-Text) Testing showed that there are several selected samples with missing documentation. Without the missing documentation we could not conclude whether an improper payment occurred or not. Examples of missing documentations are as follows: 1. Contracts with Signature - Verify that a current valid contract exists between all parties (HUD, PBCA/TCA/HFA, Property Owner) 2. Form 52670 - Monthly payment voucher for a property that makes up the amount of the sampled disbursement 3. ACH of disbursement of funds from PBCA to Properties - Confirms that the funds remitted from HUD to the PBCA were then sent to the property owners for the correct amount 4. TRACS Voucher List & Detail - Includes the owner certification and Contract Administrator approval for the payment of the voucher, evidencing approval of the payment amount and accuracy of the voucher 5. LOCCS - Used to confirm that the disbursement for the voucher was processed for the correct amount, applied to the correct contract, and to the correct recipient 6. IREMS Rent screenshot - Confirmed that the Gross/Contract Rent for each property type in the voucher was for the agreed upon amounts. The delta between the Gross/Contract Rent and the Total Tenant Payment (TTP - supported by 50059) is the Housing Assistance Payment amount. 7. IREMS Risk Rating screenshot - Verify that the property is in existence through confirmation that iREMS Table indicate proper inspection of building or conduct a Google Map Search based on address 2. Form 52670 3. ACH 4. TRACS Voucher List/Detail 5. LOCCS 6. iREMS Rent Screen Shot - Tie disbursement amount from HUD to the PBCA/Property Owner or in other words to supporting invoice to confirm accuracy of payment (for all parties) and amounts are certified by Property Owners and approved by Contract Administrators (CAs), as applicable.

Mitigation strategies taken Mitigation strategies planned
Training

Evaluation of corrective actions

Training will provide knowledge to the Owners/Agents on their role in the testing process. If Owners/Agents understand and are able to timely provide the correct documents this could potentially reduce the extrapolated error. D With improved understanding and support regarding the documentation requirements, Owners/Agents will have additional knowledge to furnish the correct documents, thereby significantly reducing the number of unknown payments.

After receiving training, the Owners/Agents will better understand the documents and timeline required from them for testing. Additionally, when the request was made to the Owners/Agents in FY24 they were often able to timely provide correct documentation after failing to do so initially.

Corrective actions to be undertaken in FY25 are adequate as they target the root cause of the unknown payments. After receiving training, the Owners/Agents will understand the documents required from them for testing. Additionally, when the request was made to the Owners/Agents in FY24 they were often able to provide correct documentation after failing to do so initially.

The level of IP and UP are below HUD's payment integrity testing for the complex multi-layered PBRA processes requires a sophisticated approach to effectively assess risk. The greatest risk of improper payments occurs outside of HUD's direct control. The variability in payment controls and documentation significantly increases the complexity and risk when testing the full payment lifecycle, a high-risk area identified by both HUD and the Office of Inspector General (OIG). The identified corrective actions aim to reduce the unknown payments. They will provide knowledge to the Owners/Agents on their role in the testing process. Due to the absence of adequate documentation from the Owners/Agents to substantiate the payments, resulted in the identification of the unknown payments In FY24. With improved understanding and support regarding the documentation requirements, Owners/Agents will have additional knowledge to furnish the correct documents, thereby significantly reducing the number of unknown payments. If Owners/Agents understand and are able to provide the correct documents this could potentially reduce the extrapolated error in the statutory level of improper payments.

Corrective actions are implemented and prioritized to reduce unknown payments. Planned actions for PBRA Eligibility to reduce unknown payments focus on training Owners/Agents on what is required from them to verify payments. These trainings will be prioritized and implemented early in the FY25 testing process. The Unknown Payment rate for FY25 will be compared to FY24 as a gauge of the corrective actions success and whether continued further actions must be implemented.

Future payment integrity outlook

Housing - Rental Housing Assistance Program (RHAP) - Project Based Rental Assistance - Project Based Section 8 - Rental Housing Assistance Program- Section 236 - Housing for Persons with Disability- Section 811 has established a baseline.

The current error rate 0.3% is below statutory threshold. We anticipate the future error rate to remain below statutory threshold. The current year +1 reduction target is .26% which is less than the estimated future Improper Payment and Unknown Payment rate.

Out-Year improper payment and unknown payment projections and target
Current year +1 estimated future outlays $16,311.03 M
Current year +1 estimated future improper payments $21.04 M
Current year +1 estimated future unknown payments $21.04 M
Current year +1 estimated future improper payment and unknown payment rate 0.26 %
Current year +1 estimated future improper payment and unknown payment reduction target 0.26 %

The program's current year improper payment and unknown payment rate of 0.3 % has been achieved with a balance of payment integrity risk and controls and represents the lowest rate that can be achieved without disproportionally increasing another risk, therefore it is the tolerable rate.

PBRA Payee Tier tolerable rate is 7%. Testing showed IP/UP rate of 0.3%, therefore tolerable rate has been achieved.

As a result of extraordinary level of effort by HUD and contract administrators, HUD was able to measure that the IP and UP rates are under the tolerable rate for the Payee Tier of this program (7%).

As a result of extraordinary level of effort by HUD and contract administrators, HUD was able to measure that the IP and UP rates are under the tolerable rate for the Payee Tier of this program (7%). HUD requested resources to support technology modernization efforts. These modernization efforts will help HUD measure improper payments in the Eligibility Tier. Housing will benefit from modernization of EIV and eLOCCS and would benefit from modernization of TRACS and iREMS.

Additional programmatic information

Accountability for detecting, preventing, and recovering improper payments

In HUD's Audit Management Systems (AMS), for Single Audit Act (SAA) audits Headquarters' Primary Organization Heads (HPOH) are responsible for assigning Program Office Management Points of Contact and Audit Liaison Officers. Assigned Program staff are responsible for developing and submitting management letters to auditees regarding resolution findings in their single audit report associated with an Assistance Listing Number (ALN) and working with auditees to ensure reports are submitted timely and findings are resolved. Audit Liaison Officers are responsible for approving the closure of findings where applicable.
Audits performed in accordance with the SAA. Of 1984 (31 USC 7501-7505) and OMB Circular A-133, “Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations” are usually prepared by Independent Auditors (IAs). The submission, monitoring, and tracking of findings resulting from these audit reports are under the direct authority and responsibility of each applicable HPOH and are tracked in HUD’s audit tracking system’s SAA module. HUD adopted a Departmental Single Audit Policy that requires the use of the SAA module for all HUD program documentation of Single Audit reviews as of March 2024.   SAA audits can involve more than one program, agency, or State and local governments, etc. Entities receiving federal financial assistance may be required to have an audit performed in accordance with the SAA of 1984 as amended and the OMB Circular A-133. The HUD program also conducts oversight through REAC Inspection Reports, Management Occupancy Reviews (MORs), Qualitative Assessment Scoreboard (QAS) and monitoring of EIV Reports. Single audits include Audited Financial Statements and for entities that do not meet the requirements for a single audit most are still required to submit unaudited financial statements to REAC.

  • FY 2025 improper payment estimates

    Chart legend and breakdown

    Payment accuracy rate

    Improper payment rate

    Unknown payment rate


    Sampling & estimation methodology details

    Sampling timeframe:

    10/2023 - 09/2024


    Confidence interval:

    There is no confidence level associated with the estimate


    Margin of error:

    +/-0.0

Causes

In fiscal year (FY) 2025, HUD analyzed the full population of payments made in FY 2024 on behalf of 1.5 million households under its Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) high risk program. This analysis revealed over $4.3 billion in unknown payments.

This year, HUD’s approach to using existing available data provided a comprehensive evaluation of certain aspects of PBRA payments and tenant and recipient records. For example, HUD flagged payments made to entities with an inactive SAM.gov registration at the time of payment. Further, HUD identified potentially ineligible tenants, a feat not previously accomplished, by analyzing payments made on behalf of tenants with non-conforming social security numbers and tenants who are deceased. HUD also flagged housing assistance payments made in excess of fair market rents.

The directive from the Biden Administration to push funding out the door with minimal oversight and the design of HUD's rental assistance programs placed substantial trust and responsibility in these non-federal entities, such as housing authorities, contract administrators, and landlords, to accurately assess tenant eligibility for two of the most complex rental assistance programs. Moreover, the Biden Administration did not provide HUD with effective tools, technology, or access to the evidence necessary to verify whether these entities were properly enforcing the intricate rules governing rental assistance. Additionally, some HUD regulations added to the complexity and weaknesses in the program design.

Ultimately, this work yielded HUD’s first ever unknown payment estimate that incorporated innovative analytical procedures over the payment population

Overpayment root cause Overpayment amount
Amount of overpayments within the agency's control $0.0 M
Amount of overpayments outside the agency's control $0.0 M

Underpayment root cause Underpayment amount
Amount of underpayments $0.0 M

The amount of improper payments that were paid to the right recipient for the correct amount but were considered technically improper because of failure to follow statute or regulation $0.0 M

The amount that could either be proper or improper but the agency is unable to determine whether it was proper or improper as a result of insufficient or lack of documentation $4,346.81 M

Prevention

To address the causes of unknown payments and prevent future unknown payments, a series of corrective actions have been taken and planned for fiscal year (FY) 2026.

In FY 2025, HUD introduced innovative methods and advanced analytics to evaluate tenant and recipient records. This approach allowed HUD to analyze millions of payment records from FY 2024, rather than relying on traditional sampling of just a few hundred records. As a result, HUD gained greater insights into potential risks and issues while identifying problematic records and estimating payments errors. This analytical strategy enables HUD to detect eligibility and payment errors more effectively as well as address the disbursement of funding design and complex eligibility and program requirements, which increases the risk of payment errors.

For the first time, HUD evaluated all tenant records across the rental assistance programs, uncovering eligibility issue totaling billions in unknown Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) payments.

HUD immediately took action to remediate these findings. During FY 2025 the Office of Multifamily Housing strengthened controls with pre-award verifications to improve SAM.gov registration status, ensuring that funds were not paid to ineligible entities. HUD also reestablished its Computer Matching Agreement with the Department of the Treasury as of May 1, 2025, and is working to enable near-real-time eligibility verification through the Treasury Do Not Pay verification portal. HUD already realized the benefits of Treasury’s Do Not Pay databases, referencing the databases to flag over $7 million in payments made on behalf of deceased tenants in FY 2024 under the PBRA program. Further, the Office of Multifamily Housing is actively investigating the rest of the $4.3 billion of unknown payments, to take corrective action and prevent further issues.

This year, HUD conducted its first collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security to identify potential ineligible non-citizens receiving rental assistance in the Section 8 and Section 9 portfolio, including the Operating Fund, Tenant-Based Rental Assistance and PBRA programs. A total of 8.8 million tenant records were analyzed, confirming U.S. citizenship and non-citizen eligibility for 8.6 million citizen and non-citizen eligible tenants. The analysis of the records indicates that thousands of ineligible non-citizens are potentially receiving assistance under the programs.

HUD also launched Project Voucher, a whole-of-agency transformation effort to improve the integrity and efficiency of its rental assistance programs. The initiative aims to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse, maximize resources, and ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, while establishing greater visibility and traceability in rental assistance payments. Additionally, HUD is conducting a study to confirm that its programs are using taxpayer dollars for the correct purpose. The study includes gathering data and information that links the impact of the taxpayer dollars spent for each program to the outcomes for people who benefit from HUD's programs related to affordable housing, poverty, and other measures. HUD's comprehensive reviews, Project Voucher, and research efforts represent a significant commitment to enhance program integrity, prevent future payment errors, and ensure federal funds are allocated to those who genuinely need assistance.

In FY 2026, HUD plans to continue the progress made in FY 2025. By increasing its use of automation tools designed to identify SAM.gov registrations expired or soon to be expired, prior to processing payments, HUD aims to further reduce the risk of payments being made to ineligible entities. Additionally, performing near-real-time eligibility verification through the Treasury Do Not Pay verification portal will enhance HUD’s ability to reduce fraud and prevent improper payments. With Project Voucher and HUD’s research efforts, HUD is paving the way for a more accountable and transparent rental assistance system. Ultimately, the greater visibility into the unknown payments has enabled HUD to begin to design technology, process, and policy improvements that will strengthen its payment integrity programs in the long-run.



The planned and completed actions in the corrective action plan are strategically designed to address the root causes of HUD's unknown payments, reflecting a proportional response to the severity of these issues. For example, during fiscal year (FY) 2025 the Office of Multifamily Housing strengthened controls with pre-award verifications to improve SAM.gov registration status, ensuring that funds were not paid to ineligible entities. Additionally, performing near-real-time eligibility verification through the Treasury Do Not Pay verification portal will enhance HUD’s ability to reduce fraud and prevent improper payments. For example, the insights gained from Do Not Pay have enabled HUD to investigate $7 million of unknown payments made on behalf of deceased tenants. The agency’s Project Voucher transformation effort also aims to bring greater visibility and traceability in rental assistance payments.

Overall, greater collaboration and visibility into payment and tenant data enables HUD to comprehensively identify unknown payments and generate targeted remediation strategies to address the severity of the issues identified. This multifaceted strategy not only aims to rectify existing problems identified from payments made in FY 2024 but also establishes mechanisms for preventing future occurrences.


Optimizing the use of its resources to effectively prioritize and implement corrective actions reflects a critical part of HUD’s payment integrity progress. In fiscal year (FY) 2025 HUD introduced innovative methods and advanced analytics to evaluate tenant and recipient records. This approach allowed HUD to analyze millions of payment records from FY 2024, rather than relying on traditional sampling of just a few hundred records. As a result, HUD gained greater insights into potential risks and issues while identifying problematics records and estimating payments errors. This analytical strategy enables HUD to detect eligibility and payment errors more effectively as well as address the disbursement of funding design and complex eligibility and program requirements, which increases the risk of payment errors.

For example, HUD identified, prioritized, and implemented corrective actions to use data analytics and automation to flag potential payment errors while incorporating process changes to prevent such errors. The agency also reestablished its Computer Matching Agreement (CMA) with the Department of the Treasury as of May 1, 2025, and is working to enable near-real-time eligibility verification through the Treasury Do Not Pay verification portal.

This year, HUD conducted its first collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security to identify potential ineligible non-citizens receiving rental assistance in the Section 8 and Section 9 portfolio, including the Operating Fund, TBRA and PBRA programs. A total of 8.8 million tenant records were analyzed, confirming U.S. citizenship and non-citizen eligibility for 8.6 million citizen and non-citizen eligible tenants. The analysis of the records indicates that thousands of ineligible non-citizens are potentially receiving assistance under the programs.

While HUD made remarkable strides in FY 2025, significant issues remain, which will be remediated through Project Voucher. Project Voucher will serve as the vehicle to identify, prioritize, and implement corrective actions that strengthen program integrity and provide for more robust monitoring and verification tools for the rental assistance programs. With Project Voucher, HUD is paving the way for a more accountable and transparent rental assistance system. Overall, HUD's comprehensive review and Project Voucher represent a significant commitment to enhance program integrity, prevent future payment errors, and ensure federal funds are allocated to those who genuinely need assistance. As the agency continues to strengthen its oversight mechanisms, it underscores a crucial message: integrity in housing assistance is paramount for deserving communities across the nation.

Payment type Mitigation strategies taken Mitigation strategies planned
Unknown payments Automation,Change Process,Cross Enterprise Sharing Automation

Eligibility element/information needed Description of the eligbility element/information
Address/location Information regarding where the applicant/recipient lived, owned property, or was physically present in a specific location
Affiliation Criteria that require the applicant/recipient as being attached or connected to a type of group, organization, or particular attribute
Age The biological age of the recipient/beneficiary
Citizenship Recognized as a United States citizen through birth or naturalization, or as a lawfully present non-citizen in the United States
Contractor or Provider Status Status or standing of contractor or provider, including recipient eligibility to provide medical services
Death Date of death of the recipient/beneficiary
Dependency Describes who the recipient/beneficiary relies on as a primary source of support
Education The education level or enrollment status of the recipient/beneficiary
Employment The employment status of the recipient/beneficiary
Financial The financial position or status of a beneficiary, recipient, or their family
Household Number of family members in a household
Identity Able to establish that someone is uniquely who they claim to be
Marital Status A person's state of being single, married, separated, divorced, or widowed
Medical Status Identifies whether a person is sick/healthy
Military Status The condition of being, or having been in the uniformed services
Prisoner Status Eligibility for benefits or payment based on prisoner status
Receiving Benefits from Other Sources Beneficiary or recipient is receiving benefits from an additional source
Residency Status of recipient's living location or arrangement

Additional information

In fiscal year (FY) 2025, HUD made significant strides in enhancing the integrity of rental assistance. The disbursement of funding structure of HUD’s payment process, combined with complex eligibility and program requirements, increases the risk of payment errors that may not be adequately assessed through a limited sample size. To address this, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) introduced innovative methods and advanced analytics to evaluate tenant and recipient records. This approach allowed HUD to analyze millions of payment records from fiscal year 2024, rather than relying on traditional sampling of just a few hundred records. By employing analytical procedures to assess the complete populations of Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) and Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) assistance payments, HUD eliminated the need for statistical sampling and extrapolation.

As a result, HUD gained greater insights into potential risks and issues, identifying problematic records and estimating payment errors. This analytical strategy enabled HUD to detect eligibility and payment errors more effectively, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used efficiently. Instead of relying on extrapolated estimates, HUD identified programmatic policy deviations in known areas of payment risk that are outside of its control. This innovative approach provided a more comprehensive and accurate view of certain payment data, facilitating the identification and mitigation of errors. Consequently the +/- 0 margin of error displayed for this program should be interpreted as Not Applicable for the FY 2025 reporting period.

Reduction target

10.0 %

The agency has many of the essential components needed to reduce improper payments and unknown payments. While HUD made remarkable strides in fiscal year (FY) 2025, significant issues still remain and enhancements in human capital, information systems, and infrastructure are needed to continue to improve payment integrity. HUD launched Project Voucher, a whole-of-agency transformation effort to improve the integrity and efficiency of its rental assistance programs. The initiative aims to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse, maximize resources, and ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, while establishing greater visibility and traceability in rental assistance payments. This initiative would enable improved collection, management, and assessment of critical tenant eligibility information and documentation, such as proof of identify, housing, income, assets, applicable income deductions, and complete HUD forms for applicable participants. HUD is also conducting a study to confirm that its programs are using taxpayer dollars for the correct purpose. The study includes gathering data and information that links the impact of the taxpayer dollars spent for each program to the outcomes for people who benefit from HUD's programs related to affordable housing, poverty, and other measures. Together, these projects will aim to further reveal the additional internal controls, human capital, information systems, and other policy and infrastructure needs required to reduce improper and unknown payments.

By strengthening these areas, the agency aims to achieve a level of reduction in unknown payments that justifies the associated expenditures. This approach ensures that the cost of implementing further controls do not exceed the savings gained from preventing or recovering improper payments. These projects represent a significant commitment to enhancing program integrity, preventing future payment errors, and ensuring federal funds are allocated to U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens.

The Department is actively prioritizing resources to address payment integrity objectives under Project HUD Unified Grant System (HUGS) and Project Voucher. Project HUGS and Project Voucher are designed to deliver full transparency into the flow of HUD funds, tracing dollars from the Department all the way to the ultimate beneficiary, whether a family receiving rental assistance, a developer building affordable housing, or a nonprofit providing services. The end result of this effort is continuous financial monitoring that allows HUD to move beyond episodic reviews and instead embed accountability and financial best practices into day-to-day operations. By streamlining processes and integrating modern analytics, HUD will generate more timely and accurate financial reporting while strengthening its payment integrity program. Powered by machine learning and advanced analytics, this approach enables HUD to detect anomalies, predict risks, and proactively safeguard funds with a level of precision and scale not possible through manual oversight, ensuring that funds are used as intended.

The Department is actively prioritizing resources to address payment integrity objectives under Project HUD Unified Grant System (HUGS) and Project Voucher. Project HUGS and Project Voucher are designed to deliver full transparency into the flow of HUD funds, tracing dollars from the Department all the way to the ultimate beneficiary, whether a family receiving rental assistance, a developer building affordable housing, or a nonprofit providing services. The end result of this effort is continuous financial monitoring that allows HUD to move beyond episodic reviews and instead embed accountability and financial best practices into day-to-day operations. By streamlining processes and integrating modern analytics, HUD will generate more timely and accurate financial reporting while strengthening its payment integrity program. Powered by machine learning and advanced analytics, this approach enables HUD to detect anomalies, predict risks, and proactively safeguard funds with a level of precision and scale not possible through manual oversight, ensuring that funds are used as intended.

In HUD’s Audit Management Systems (AMS), Headquarters’ Primary Organization Heads (HPOHs) assign Program Office Management Points of Contact and Audit Liaison Officers to manage Single Audit Act (SAA) responsibilities. Assigned Program staff are responsible for developing and submitting management letters to auditees regarding resolution findings in their single audit report associated with an Assistance Listing Number (ALN) and working with auditees to ensure reports are submitted timely and findings are resolved. Audit Liaison Officers are responsible for approving the closure of findings where applicable. Audits are performed in accordance with the Single Audit Act (31 U.S.C. Chapter 75) and the Uniform Guidance audit requirements in 2 CFR Part 200, Subpart F, which govern how federal award recipients are evaluated by independent auditors. The submission, monitoring, and tracking of findings resulting from these audit reports are under the direct authority and responsibility of each applicable HPOH and are tracked in HUD's audit tracking system's SAA module. HUD’s Departmental Single Audit Act policy requires all program offices to use the SAA module for documenting and tracking Single Audit reviews. SAA audits can involve more than one program, agency, or State and local governments, etc. Entities receiving federal financial assistance may be required to have an audit performed in accordance with the SAA of 1984 as amended and the OMB Circular A-133.

HUD also conducts program oversight through REAC inspection reports, Management Occupancy Reviews (MORs), Qualitative Assessment Scorecards (QAS), and monitoring of EIV reports, which support detection of improper payments and strengthen management accountability. Single audits include Audited Financial Statements and for entities that do not meet the requirements for a single audit most are still required to submit unaudited financial statements to REAC.

$0 M