A new U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report examines public housing agencies (PHAs) and localities’ use of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) Public Housing Capital Funds, and reports on the progress that PHAs and housing finance agencies (HFAs) have made in spending grant funds and on the way that the funds were used and the actions that HUD and PHAs took to ensure that recipients spent grants on time and for the intended purposes. It also assesses the quality of job estimates reported by Recovery Act recipients and reports the status of GAO Recovery Act recommendations.
The report finds that almost all PHAs met their spending deadlines for Public Housing Capital Funds and competitive grant programs; all but one PHA spent 100 percent of their formula grants by March 17, 2012; and PHAs with competitive grants were on track to meet their September 2012 spending deadlines. In addition, GAO finds that all HFAs met their December 2011 disbursement deadlines for Section 1602 Exchange program funds and that most HFAs met their February 2012 deadline to spend Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP) funds. Almost all HFAs reported that the funds helped restart stalled affordable housing projects that otherwise could not have moved forward.
Click here to read the report.
