The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report that analyzes the use of funds by Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grantees. The report assesses whether grantees were using NSP1 funds in accordance with the act’s criteria by examining:
- grantees’ progress and challenges in meeting NSP 1 obligation and income-targeting requirements;
- HUD’s actions to mitigate program risks and ensure grantees’ compliance with key NSP 1 requirements; and
- HUD’s efforts to collect program data and assess program performance.
The GAO found that over 99% of NSP1 funds were obligated within the required 18 month time frame, and that most grantees obligated at least 25% of their funds for housing for low-income households. The report recommends that HUD provide additional guidance to NSP grantees and HUD field staff to help ensure that information on output measures is collected in HUD’s data system in a more consistent manner.
