Office of Receivership Oversight (ORO)

Overview

Welcome to the Office of Receivership Oversight (ORO) Homepage! Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) with serious financial, physical, management or ethical problems are sometimes determined to be in substantial default of their Annual Contributions Contract with HUD, and are temporarily taken over by the Department so their problems can be corrected. This is known as administrative receivership, and it is viewed by HUD as a last resort option for assisting PHAs with the most severe problems.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of PHAs placed under administrative receivership, or "receiverships." In January 2006, the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) initiated the creation of an office that would focus exclusively on providing day-to-day oversight and direction for receiverships. The ORO was formally established in February 2007. The founding of the ORO provides the Department with the specialized staff and resources to make it a more effective agent in the turnaround of receiverships, as well as providing a central location to develop and coordinate receivership policy, procedures, and training.

The ORO has the challenging task of planning, directing, supporting, monitoring and reporting on the recovery of receiverships. ORO's staff is ably assisted by a number of experienced HUD employees working on site at the various receiverships. ORO's goal is the strategic reorganization and improvement of these PHAs so they can be restored as efficient, ethical and financially sustainable managers of HUD programs and providers of safe, decent and affordable housing, at which time they can be returned to local control. Once returned to local control, PIH's Office of Field Operations resumes oversight of the PHA as they do with all other PHAs.

Mission

The mission of the Office of Receivership Oversight (ORO) is to oversee and manage the recovery and turnaround of housing authorities under HUD administrative receivership, leading to the eventual return of the public housing authorities (PHAs) to local control. The Assistant Secretary of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) determines which housing authorities are placed under the ORO's management and oversight. The ORO:

• Develops policies, standards and procedures pertaining to the recovery of PHAs.
• Provides direction, support and oversight for HUD-appointed Executive Administrators, Boards of Commissioners and other HUD staff or contractors working at receivership sites.
• Oversees all aspects of the financial, physical and management recovery of administrative receiverships.
• Plans and monitors the use of funds appropriated specifically for supporting receivership recovery.
• Provides limited compliance oversight of public housing authorities under judicial receivership.