United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2006-06-14 monographic deposited born digital 30 p. GA 1.13:GAO-06-844T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-844T P0b002ee18039ddb3 f:d06844t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-844T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-844T GAO-06-844T Accountability Check disbursement or control Correctional facilities Disaster relief aid Erroneous payments Fraud Housing allowances Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Rita Identity verification Internal controls Personal property Prisoners Program abuses Real property Individuals and Households Program Testimony A55531 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed homes and displaced millions of individuals. In the wake of these natural disasters, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) responded to the need to provide aid quickly through the Individuals and Households Program (IHP) program, which provides housing assistance, real and personal property assistance, and for other immediate, emergency needs. As of February 2006, FEMA made 2.6 million payments totaling over $6 billion. Our testimony today will (1) provide an estimate of improper and potentially fraudulent payments through February 2006 related to certain aspects of the disaster registrations, (2) identify whether improper and potentially fraudulent payments were made to registrants who were incarcerated at the time of the disaster, (3) identify whether FEMA improperly provided registrants with rental assistance payments at the same time it was paying for their lodging at hotels, and (4) review FEMA's accountability over debit cards and controls over proper debit card usage. To estimate the magnitude of IHP payments made on the basis of invalid registrations, we selected a random statistical sample of 250 payments made to hurricanes Katrina and Rita registrants as of February 2006. We also conducted data mining and investigations to further illustrate the effects of control breakdowns. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-844T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-844T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-844T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-844T.pdf GAO-06-844T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-844T Testimony GAO-06-844T; Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Disaster Relief: Improper and Potentially Fraudulent Individual Assistance Payments Estimated to Be Between $600 Million and $1.4 Billion; Accountability Check disbursement or control Correctional facilities Disaster relief aid Erroneous payments Fraud Housing allowances Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Rita Identity verification Internal controls Personal property Prisoners Program abuses Real property Individuals and Households Program Title 44 Part 206.117 44 CFR Part 206.117 Title 44 Part 206.112 44 CFR Part 206.112 Title 44 Part 206.110 44 CFR Part 206.110