Inspections and Evaluations Reports

Information by State  Print version

Issue Date: September 2008
File: IED-07-001

Title: Evaluation of FHEO Housing Discrimination Complaint Processing and Compliance

We completed an evaluation of HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) and its nonprofit affiliated Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) and their processing of housing discrimination complaints. Our evaluation follows prior work conducted by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that addressed similar program management issues. In its October 2005 report (GAO-06-79) the Government Accountability Office found deficiencies in processing timeliness, documentation sufficiency, and the data integrity of TEAPOTS and recommended corrective actions to improve performance.

The objective of our evaluation was to determine whether FHEO and FHAP intake and investigation processes are timely completed, consistently thorough, and accurately reported in the Title VIII Automated Paperless Tracking Office System (TEAPOTS).

We found, based on our tests of a random sample of FHEO and FHAP investigations nationwide, evidence of the same or similar processing deficiencies noted in the GAO report. Our tests covered fair housing investigations opened and conducted during the period January through June 2006 or two years later than the GAO selected sample. Consequently, we recommend that HUD conduct appropriate tests of current case documentation compliance with the Fair Housing Act, related regulations, and Handbook guidelines.