Comments on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Public Housing Security Demonstration Program

In view of the actions being taken or planned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) concerning its public housing security demonstration program, GAO will not continue with its review of public housing security measures and related crime and vandalism problems. Further observations and recommedations were made in an effort to aid HUD in improving public housing security. These observations relate to (1) the number of project sites to be evaluated, (2) the lack of staff assigned to direct the demonstration program, and (3) the need for an effective organization and funding mechanism to assure that the demonstration program results are acted upon by HUD to establish and maintain an effective comprehensive security program for the Nation's public housing projects.

Because HUD plans to evaluate the program at only 10 projects while awards will be made to about 39, GAO believed that it was not clear how HUD intended to meet its objective to demonstrate and evaluate anticrime strategies. The funding of the 29 demonstration projects without evaluating their results did not seem to be consistent with the program objective. Current staff resources appeared to be insufficient to accomplish required tasks effectively. HUD has no permanent office or staff assigned to provide emphasis and coordination for public housing security and has no mechanism or procedure for assessing public housing crime and vandalism on a continuing basis. The full benefit of its security research may not be achieved because of ineffective coordination between research and housing program officials resulting from the lack of a focal point for security. Two traditional fund sources are available from HUD for local housing authorities to provide for security needs. The first source is modernization funds which may be used for major capital improvements as well as improvement of management and social services. The second source is the annual operating subsidy which augments rental receipts and may be used for the management, maintenance, and general operation of housing projects. Security is not given priority consideration in the application process for modernization funds. In the budgetary process of operating subsidies, spending for security purposes must compete with utility, maintenance, and emergency repair needs for available funds.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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