Public and Indian Housing - Rental Housing Assistance Program (RHAP) - Tenant Based Rental Assistance Section 8 - Housing Certificate Fund & Tenant Based Rental Assistance
Program level Payment Integrity results
Sponsoring agency: Department of Housing and Urban Development
View on Federal Program InventoryPROGRAM METRICS
$33,981 M
in FY 2025 outlays, with a
95.6%
payment accuracy rate
-
Improper payment estimates over time
View as:
Chart toggle amounts:Proper paymentsOverpaymentUnderpaymentTechnically improperUnknown
Payment Integrity results
-
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
This year, HUD’s approach to using existing available data provided a comprehensive evaluation of certain aspects of TBRA 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 110% of the HUD-published fair market rent.
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 | $1,481.23 M |
Prevention
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 Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) payments.
HUD immediately took action to remediate these findings. During FY 2025 the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) 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 $69 million in payments made on behalf of deceased tenants in FY 2024 under the TBRA program. Further, PIH is actively investigating the approximately $1.5 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, 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.
The OCFO established the Strike Force to enhance efforts in eliminating fraud, corruption, and immigration violations within Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) as mandated by new regulations. To fulfill these mandates, the Strike Force utilizes publicly available information, compiles data from across HUD and identifies potential risk factors associated with PHAs and their personnel. This analysis enables the team to compile detailed, preliminary risk assessments and intelligence reports and present them to the appropriate law enforcement agency, expediting the detection and resolution of possible misconduct.
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 research efforts, HUD is paving the way for a more accountable and transparent rental assistance system. Further, Strike Force investigations will aim to reveal opportunities for greater accountability across PHAs. 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, the Office of Public and Indian 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 $69 million of unknown payments made on behalf of deceased tenants. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) established the Strike Force to enhance efforts in eliminating fraud, corruption, and immigration violations within Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) as mandated by new regulations. 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.
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, the Office of Public and Indian 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 $69 million of unknown payments made on behalf of deceased tenants. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) established the Strike Force to enhance efforts in eliminating fraud, corruption, and immigration violations within Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) as mandated by new regulations. 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.
For example, HUD identified, prioritized, and implemented corrective actions to use data analytics and automation to flag potential payment 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. Further, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) established the Strike Force to enhance efforts in eliminating fraud, corruption, and immigration violations within Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) as mandated by new regulations. To fulfill these mandates, the Strike Force utilizes publicly available information, compiles data from across HUD and identifies potential risk factors associated with PHAs and their personnel. This analysis enables the team to compile detailed, preliminary risk assessments and intelligence reports and present them to the appropriate law enforcement agency, expediting the detection and resolution of possible misconduct.
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,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 %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 the Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP), a system used by HUD to measure the performance of Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) that administer the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program.
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 the Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP), a system used by HUD to measure the performance of Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) that administer the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program.