United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1999-09-03 monographic deposited born digital 57 p. GA 1.13:RCED-99-251 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-251 P0b002ee180377a3c f:rc99251 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-251 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-251 RCED-99-251 Housing programs Community development programs Federal agency reorganization Budget administration Grant administration Presidential budgets Unexpended budget balances Contract administration Federal grants HUD 2020 Management Reform Plan Community Development Block Grant HUD Community Development Disaster Assistance Program HUD Public Housing Drug Elimination Program HUD Contract Administration Program HUD Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Program Letter Report RCED Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget request, focusing on: (1) whether HUD has the capacity to implement, and adequate justification to support, the new or significantly expanded programs and initiatives included in its budget request; (2) the potential for HUD to use available unexpended balances in some programs to reduce its need for new funding in other programs; and (3) whether HUD adequately justified its use of or requests for funds in the following five areas: (a) disaster assistance; (b) salaries and expenses; (c) Schedule C and non-career Senior Executive Service positions; (d) rural housing and economic development; and (e) international housing initiatives.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) out of its total FY 2000 budget request of over $28 billion, HUD has requested $731 million for 19 programs and initiatives that were not funded in FY 1999; (2) however, in GAO's March 1999 testimony on HUD's FY 2000 budget request, GAO questioned HUD's capacity to manage this volume of additional work because of the time-consuming organizational reform occurring at this time and the substantial resources HUD would need to implement new programs; (3) in GAO's review of one of the largest of these new programs--Contract Administration, with $209 million requested for FY 2000--GAO found that HUD has not accomplished two tasks that are critical for effective implementation; (4) as proposed, the Contract Administration program would contract out for the administration of 20,000 multifamily properties in HUD's project-based section 8 housing assistance inventory; (5) although HUD has taken steps to identify qualified contractors, HUD has not established, to date, essential oversight procedures nor assigned key staff to monitor the contractors' performance; (6) furthermore, HUD recently decided to exclude certain properties from the program, which could reduce the need for fully funding the request; (7) therefore, HUD is not prepared to fully implement the program and likely will not need the full amount of its FY 2000 budget request for this program; (8) the potential exists for HUD to better manage unexpended balances in a number of programs and for some unobligated funding to be used to meet other needs; (9) however, determining the full extent to which unexpended balances are available for other purposes will require additional information and analysis by HUD; (10) GAO's limited review identified some programs--such as the Homeless Assistance, Rent Supplement, and Rental Assistance programs--in which the need for carrying unobligated balances is questionable; (11) it also showed that the unobligated, unexpended balances for three selected programs are caused by several factors, including HUD's lengthy process for making competitive awards and funding allocation policies that delay providing funds to grantees; (12) taking steps to scrutinize and make more productive use of its unobligated balances is important because these balances have grown over the past 3 years for some of HUD's existing programs; and (13) for 4 of the 5 areas GAO reviewed, GAO found that HUD had adequate support for its budget request. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-251/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-251.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-251/pdf/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-251.pdf GAO/RCED-99-251 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-99-251 Letter Report GAO/RCED-99-251; HUD's Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Request: Additional Analysis; Housing programs Community development programs Federal agency reorganization Budget administration Grant administration Presidential budgets Unexpended budget balances Contract administration Federal grants HUD 2020 Management Reform Plan Community Development Block Grant HUD Community Development Disaster Assistance Program HUD Public Housing Drug Elimination Program HUD Contract Administration Program HUD Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Program